Under An Endless Sky
by SansaEverlark
Summary: All Human. 10 teenagers meet on a holiday across Africa. But they soon realise they are certainly not in paradise after all when strange disappearances start to plague their group. Soon they are terrified who will be next...Expect suspense,drama& romance!
1. Arrivals

**Hey again, everyone! I'm back with a new story for you guys. I think everything in this one is pretty self-explanatory so I'm just going to get on with it. All I'm going to say is please bear with the beginning because it gets a LOT more exciting in a couple of chapters time : ) I struggled writing this because I don't like opening chapters, the rest is better written.**

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Alice's PoV

This was so exciting. I couldn't even sit still. How long was this flight going to take! I leant past my brother Edward to look out the window, but all I could see below was the blueness of the Atlantic Ocean, we weren't even above Africa yet! I tried to tilt my head to see if the continent was in sight but Edward rudely shoved me back into my seat.

"For god's sake, Alice. We've still got hours left of this flight, could you please just sit still" he snapped irritably.

I subsided grudging into my seat and attempted to sit still. But fortunately I didn't have to as the person on the other side of me was my cousin Emmett and he certainly didn't like sitting still and quiet for extended periods of time.

"What do you think the others are going to be like?" he asked me enthusiastically.

I thought about it for a moment, like I hadn't already dwelt on it for days and days on end. "Well," I said thoughtfully, "I hope they are kind of like us. I mean it'll be tough if we don't get on with them as we'll stuck with them for months. I just hope they aren't all up themselves and spoilt little brats, if you know what I mean."

You see, Edward and I had been complaining to our father about how we were bored with our sheltered lifestyles. This was because our parents were very wealthy and so we had never been given the chance to do anything for ourselves without their input. I had got it into my head that I wanted to see the world. In the end I had persuaded our father and he had begun to organise a gap year travelling across Africa for Edward, Emmett and myself. But he had had another idea as well. He had arranged for another seven kids like us to go on this trip as well. And by kids like us I mean other kids from very rich families. Hence the fears of stuck-upness.

"Hey," Emmett continued, leaning around to talk to Edward, "I hope some of them are hot." He said grinning cheekily. Edward rolled his eyes.

_Hmmm, _I thought, _that would certainly make things more interesting. _I started to bounce in my seat again.

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We finally got there. To Kenya, to be exact. We landed in Nairobi and were taken straight to a hotel to await the arrival of the others. I spent the whole taxi journey with my nose pressed against the window, trying to see everything at once. This was so much better than I had dreamt it would be and we hadn't even started yet.

We were the first to arrive so I set about making myself presentable. Emmett was trying to engage Edward in an arm wrestle of all things while Edward was reading a book on the Masai Mara. I couldn't wait for the others to turn up; these two fools were going to drive me insane.

And then I heard the sound I had been waiting for. The sound of someone entering our suite of rooms. I sprinted through towards the sound calling out, "Hello?"

There standing in the doorway, looking nervous, was a tall brunette girl. She smiled at me tentatively and held out her hand.

"Hi. I'm Angela Weber." She said. Her voice was very soft and quiet, I guessed that she was quite shy but I thought we would get along.

"Hey, I'm Alice Masen. It's nice to meet you." I replied giving her a wide, friendly smile.

"It was your father who organised all this, right?" she questioned.

"Yeah. I'm here with my brother Edward as well and my cousin Emmett McCarty. You'll meet them in just a sec."

But just as I finished saying this a tall pale boy with dark wavy hair walked in through the door behind her. His eyes scanned us both and then rested on me and he asked,

"Are you Alice Masen?" I nodded and held out my hand. "Demetri." he said, shaking it. He looked a couple of years older than the rest of us seemed to be, but he seemed polite and fairly pleasant.

"Come through here and I'll introduce you two to my brother and cousin." I said warmly. I was really enjoying the role of host. I led them through into the living room area.

"Emmett, Edward." I called out as we walked over to them. "This is Angela and Demetri." They all shook hands and we started to chat.

I learnt that Angela was 18 and Demetri 20 so I had been right in my early assumptions about him. Angela's parents had persuaded her to come as they thought she needed to come out of her shell a bit more. Demetri had just thought it sounded like fun.

I sat myself next to Angela, "I'm so glad that you've turned up already, being surrounded by those boys was driving me mad." I said conspiratorially.

"How many people are going to be on this trip altogether?" she asked.

"5 boys, 5 girls." I answered promptly. "I hope some of the boys are cute." I whispered to her, with a sly smile. She smiled back but shrugged her shoulders.

"I have a boyfriend back home so I'm not that bothered." She responded.

"Ooh," I murmured sympathetically, "that's going to be tough, not seeing him for all these months." She nodded.

"I'm still looking forward to it all though," she put in, her face lighting up. "Particularly seeing all the wildlife, it's something I have always dreamed of doing, you know, but I never really thought I would."

"Yeah," I agreed excitedly, "apparently we're going to see loads straight away 'cause the first part of the trip is through the Masai Mara."

We carried on talking for quite a while and it got quite late. Finally we decided to hit the hay, as the others would probably not arrive until the next day.

Angela and I retired to the girls' room still chatting about all the things we were looking forwards to doing. Eventually we fell asleep.

I had a strange dream; it was probably because I was sleeping somewhere unfamiliar. It didn't really make any sense; it was just a series of jumbled images and sounds mashed together. But there was an overriding sensation that someone was following me but I didn't know whom. It was getting more and more distressing.

I came awake with a jolt and was abruptly aware that there was someone in the room with Angela and me.

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Lol, I love my cliffies.

**I know this chapter was a little slow and kinda crappy but it'll start picking up when the trip actually starts.**

**Anyone feel like guessing who makes up the other 5 members of the group?**

**Please review! I need feedback to continue. xxx**


	2. More Meetings and Love Interests

**Hey, thanks to everyone that reviewed last chapter. I'm always nervous with new ideas and that response really gave me confidence : )**

**And thanks to IH8Abrieviations for the idea!**

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Edward's PoV

I was jolted awake in the middle of the night by the sound of my sister screaming her lungs out. I heard Emmett swear and the sound of Demetri scrambling out of bed. I raced out of the room too, my heart in my throat and the three of us burst into the girls' room at the same time.

The instant we stepped inside our ears were assailed by one hell of a lot of shouting. Alice was screaming things like "Help! There's a pervert in our room!" for what I could only guess as our benefit, while Angela seemed to be trying to calm her down. In the centre of the room was a blond guy who looked like he was desperately trying to make himself heard over Alice's shrieks.

"What the hell is going on?" Emmett bellowed from right behind me, making me cringe as he nearly deafened me. Everyone fell silent; the blond guy shooting frightened looks at Emmett.

I quickly crossed the room and put my arm around my sister who looked like she was going into hysterics.

"Tell me what happened." I commanded more quietly.

"I woke up just now and I rolled over and saw this creep sneaking around our room. He looked like he was trying to burgle us or something." She told me, her voice slightly higher than usual.

Everyone turned to stare at the blond guy now. He glanced around from one face to another and seemed to shrink from the hostility.

"I wasn't trying to burgle you." He said, his voice shooting up a few octaves with fearful indignation. "I was told to come here. But my flight was a late one and when I got here I saw you had all already gone to bed and so I was going to do the same but I must have gone into the wrong room. That's all, I swear."

"Oh," Angela breathed softly, "you're another member of our group. Well that explains everything. Sorry about panicking on you like that. I'm Angela." And she held out her hand welcomingly.

"Mike," he said shaking it relievedly. The rest of us stood still and unmoving. I could see from the corner of my eye that Emmett and Demetri were glaring at him just as much as I was.

"I'm Alice." My sister finally muttered grudgingly, although she was still obviously annoyed with him for scaring her like that. I didn't at all like the way that Mike looked her up and down as he shook her hand. I exchanged a look with Emmett that clearly said we were going to have to keep our eyes on this one.

"Let's go back to bed," I said before abruptly leaving the room. I should have known that there would be at least one irritating person on this trip with us.

"This way, Mike." I heard Emmett mutter threateningly at him as I walked away.

Mike slunk into our room after the rest of us. If he had had a tail it would have definitely been between his legs right now. We all clambered back into our beds but before Demetri could turn the light out Emmett stopped him with a raised hand. He turned to Mike and said,

"Don't you ever let me catch you looking at my cousin like that again or you will seriously regret it." His voice was low and menacing and he flexed his muscles as he said it. He really was overdoing it. I rolled my eyes making sure that Emmett caught the action. Mike nodded his head quickly, his eyes widening fearfully.

As we finally laid down to sleep again Emmett whispered across to me, "It needed to be done." I just shook my head even though I knew he couldn't see. This trip was certainly going to be interesting.

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When I woke up the next morning I could hear the sounds of the girls talking from the living room. I glanced about. Emmett and Mike were still fast asleep but Demetri was sitting up and looking towards the door.

"It sounds like another girl has arrived." He told me quietly. I listened and indeed it did sound like there were three girls in the next room. I dressed quickly and left our room, Demetri following me quietly.

Alice and Angela were sat side by side on the sofa looking at the new arrival that was staring out the window while she talked at them. She turned at the sound of our entrance and ran her deep blue eyes over us speculatively. She then flicked her long brown hair over her shoulder and walked haughtily across the room to us with her hand held out.

"I'm Heidi. It's a pleasure to meet you." She said silkily, shaking first Demetri's hand then mine. As we introduced ourselves I noticed that Alice was glaring at Heidi with unconcealed dislike from behind her back. I could imagine why, Heidi undoubtedly seemed up herself.

"I'm going to go sit out on the balcony," Alice said and she quickly made her escape. After a moments hesitation Demetri followed her, leaving Angela and myself stuck with Heidi.

**Bella's PoV**

I was so excited about this holiday around Africa. I had never even been outside of America before. I would never normally be able to afford going on a holiday like this but my two best friends, Rose and Jasper had very rich parents and they had agreed to pay for me to go as well. I had been almost overcome by their generosity but they had just brushed it off saying that they counted me as an extra daughter as well and wanted me to go with Rose and Jasper and have fun too. I knew without doubt this was going to be the best year of my life!

We finally got to our hotel in Nairobi at around mid-morning where we were going to meet the other members of our group. I was too excited even to feel tired after our ridiculously long flight. When we were given the key to our room Rose grabbed my hand exuberantly and dragged me off up the stairs squealing with excitement, leaving Jasper behind to carry up all our luggage.

She pulled me to a stop just outside the door. "How do I look?" she asked breathlessly. I rolled my eyes. What a stupid question, there was only ever one answer.

"Perfect, Rose, like always." I reassured her. She glowered at me.

"After that flight I definitely do not feel even remotely close to perfection," she grumbled. I laughed at her expression.

"Are we going in or what?" I said and ignoring her answer I opened the door and pushed her in ahead of me.

Inside there were three people. Two girls and a boy. Although you couldn't really call him a boy. A god more like. I actually did a double take. He was beautiful. He had messy bronze coloured hair and bright emerald coloured eyes. I had never seen a more perfect looking person before and I was best friends with the Hale twins.

Fortunately for me Rose was busy making introductions so I don't think anyone noticed my stunned silence. I caught that his name was Edward, what a perfect name for him, a name that called to mind the heroes of Jane Austen novels. I noticed then that Rosalie was giving me a strange look. Trust her to know exactly what was going on in my mind.

She steered me over and sat me down so that I was next to the god. I glared at her. She then leant over to Edward to engage him in conversation.

"Isn't this so exciting? I can't wait for us to get started on the safari. The only drawback is missing people back at home. I'm glad I'm not in a relationship that would be really tough, wouldn't it?" she commented in a light friendly tone. I glared at her more fiercely; I could see what she was trying to find out.

But Edward only laughed. "Yes, I'm glad that I'm single too." Was it just my imagination or did he glance in my direction when he said that? Rosalie kicked me in the ankle.

"Oh, err… yeah, me too." I stuttered, scrambling to say what Rose wanted me too. I heard her sigh in exasperation at me.

"Have you ever been to Africa before?" I asked him more coherently this time.

"No, that's why I'm really looking forward it, it should be the experience of a lifetime." He answered enthusiastically.

"Neither have I. I never thought I would be able to either, but Rose and Jasper's parents made sure I came too." I glanced across the room and saw that Jasper had turned up now too, when had he arrived? Had I really been that oblivious to anything other than Edward?

"Are they family?" he asked.

"No, they're just my best friends. I'm glad to be with them. I would have been so nervous turning up on my own to travel with a bunch of strangers."

He was nodding. "I know what you mean. I'm here with my sister and cousin. Although that may not turn out to be a good thing as I think that there is a big possibility that they may drive me into insanity over the coming year."

I laughed at that. I was about to respond when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see a guy with blond, spiky hair grinning down at me.

"Have you just arrived?" he asked. I nodded. "I'm Mike Newton," he continued holding out his hand to me. I shook it, feeling a little chagrined. He seemed nice enough but I was a little irritated that he had interrupted my conversation with Edward. But before I could politely shake him off, he had sat down next to me and was firing questions at me. I turned to look at Edward again but all I saw was his back retreating out of the room. I sighed to myself and turned back to answer Mike's questions.

**Rosalie's PoV**

After seeing to it that Bella got a good conversation going with Edward who she so obviously had the hots for I turned my attention to the rest of the room. The other two brunette girls, Angela and Heidi, were chatting to Jasper. I drifted across to join them.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Heidi was asking my brother forwardly. I scowled at her. Jasper told her no and I swear her whole face lit up. I glared at her but she didn't seem to notice. Who the hell did she think she was? She wasn't even that pretty. Well, maybe she was a little but I was better. Obviously.

Jasper was looking a bit awkward. I couldn't blame him. "I'm going to step outside." he said and rose to leave. Heidi of course instantly rose to follow him but I grabbed her arm and pulled her back down gushing like some silly airhead, like her in actual fact,

"We have so much to talk about. We have to get to know each other before this trip begins." I glanced back over my shoulder just in time to see Jasper mouth "thank you" to me before disappearing outside.

I turned back to Heidi who was already mid sentence. And my god could she talk! She went on and on and on. I kept exchanging looks with Angela who looked as uncomfortable as I felt. I think she would have gone on indefinitely if not for the entrance of two more boys.

The first one was some non-descript blond who annoyingly interrupted Bella and Edward, instantly turning me against him. But the other one certainly caught my attention. If I were to describe my perfect man I think I would be describing him, right down to the dimples. He came across to us and introduced himself warmly as Emmett McCarty.

"Pleasure to meet you." He said seductively after I told him my name. But before I could respond Heidi jumped in, pulling Emmett down to sit next to her. He seemed a little taken aback but not unpleasantly so. My opinion of him fell a little at that.

"Come on, Angela." I said, doing my best to ignore the other two, "You can show me our room." She seemed relieved to have an excuse to leave. I got up and stalked out the room. I noticed Emmett watched me leave with a disappointed expression on his face. Well, it served him right for overlooking me for that stupid Heidi girl.

**Alice's PoV**

It was a relief to be able to make my escape outside away from Heidi. She was so annoying, how on earth was I supposed to put up with her throughout the entire trip? I leant on the balcony and looked out at the Nairobi skyline. I felt my excitement begin to grow again.

I heard quiet footsteps behind me and turned to see Demetri had followed me out. I smiled at him as he came to stand beside me.

"I'm guessing you don't approve of Heidi." He commented conversationally. I glanced at him to see if his statement was reproving but his eyes were glittering with amusement. I grinned back.

"Judging by your expression last night I'm guessing that _you _don't approve of Mike." I shot back playfully. He pulled a pained expression.

"That guy is such a tool." He complained. We both laughed.

"Your cousin gave him a pretty good warning last night though," Demetri continued. I groaned and dropped my face into my hands. "What?" Demetri asked worriedly.

"Emmett's so embarrassing sometimes. He really didn't have to get the protective tough guy act on." I moaned.

"You shouldn't care what Mike thinks of you." Demetri informed me, sneering out Mike's name.

"Ok, maybe I don't care that much about Mike's feelings but you better not form an opinion of us based on Emmett last night." I said warningly. He laughed again.

"I don't think I will. I think I've got a better measure of you from talking to you anyway." He said with a wink. I felt myself blush a little. Demetri was really cute.

"It sucks that there has to be two annoying people in our group, I hope the others are more likeable." I added. Demetri nodded a little distractedly, like he wasn't really interested in the remaining members of our group.

"Well I can't expect to be as lucky with the rest of the group as I have been so far," he answered. Was he implying what I think he was? But I was saved the trouble of thinking of how to reply to him by the sounds of someone else stepping outside to join us.

I turned to see who it was and stopped dead. He was even better looking than Demetri! I could feel myself staring at him in stunned surprise; so much so that it took me a moment to realise he was staring at me with a similar expression.

"Yes?" Demetri said a little snappishly. I glanced at him and saw he looked a little put out. I felt instantly guilty; I didn't mean to hurt him.

"Hey," the gorgeous guy said, sounding a bit uncertain. "I'm Jasper, I just got here."

"Alice." I said brightly holding out my hand. He took it, smiling a breathtaking smile at me before turning to Demetri.

Demetri introduced himself grudgingly. I could see that these two were not going to be friends.

"That's nearly the whole group then, we're just missing the last two girls," I commented. Jasper shook his head.

"No, Rose and Bella came with me and I think they are the two you mean." He told me. I felt my heart sink a little. Knowing my luck one of them was bound to be his girlfriend.

"Rose and Bella?" I repeated.

"Yeah," Jasper said, "my twin sister and her best friend." I grinned as I felt a wave of relief.

"It's almost time for dinner, Alice. Are you coming?" Demetri asked, attempting to regain my attention.

I turned to look at him and felt my heart flicker. I knew that I really liked Demetri but I could also feel a big attraction to Jasper.

"Ok." I said as brightly as I could. I turned and led the way inside feeling the two boys flanking me on either side. This was not going to be simple.

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Wow that was a long chapter by my standards but I couldn't stop myself I was having too much fun with all the meetings! Don't get too used to them being that long though :D

**Next chapter they will go out to the Masai Mara! I don't know about you but I am excited. And then all the mystery will begin!**

**Now does anyone feel like reviewing?**


	3. First Glimpse of Africa

**This is completely off the point but I finished my last exam yesterday! I'm so thrilled! Now on with the story…**

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**Emmett's PoV**

I got up the next morning with a new determination. A determination that I would somehow get the beautiful Rosalie to talk to me. She had completely blanked me all last night. I knew why. It was because Heidi wouldn't leave me alone and Rosalie clearly doesn't think much of Heidi. Heidi wasn't so bad; she was pretty hot really except when you compared her to Rosalie. I don't think that there is a woman alive who could be a match for Rosalie. She's stunning.

We got up at around dawn and I can't say I was particularly happy about that, normally I would sleep in till at least 10 but I suppose I better get used to this routine. Alice had guaranteed me that there was going to be plenty of early mornings on this trip. But at least I had something beautiful to get up for now.

We all piled into two jeeps which disappointingly ended up being split between the boys and the girls, so no chances there of getting a chance to speak to her. However I was soon reasonably distracted as we drove out into the Kenyan savannah. It was out of this world. I wasn't normally one to get excited over views and scenery but this was exceptional.

The rolling green land stretched on as far as the eye could see. Our guide, a young guy called Eric, told us that we were here at the perfect time of the year to see Kenya at its greenest and most beautiful before things became drier later on in the year. It definitely didn't look anything like the rainy season; the sky was a breathtaking blue and seemed so huge above us. Maybe it was because I was a city boy but I wasn't used to having the horizon so far off. The result was that the blueness above us seemed limitless and vast. It gave me a strange feeling. A free feeling like all the manacles and inhibitions of my life back in America were somehow meaningless here. What a perfect feeling when I was about to embark on pulling the most beautiful girl.

"It's even better than I expected," Edward breathed from beside me. I nodded, not really wanting to look away.

"I don't think I'm going to want to go home," Jasper commented, "imagine living in a place like this for the rest of your life."

"Yeah," Demetri agreed enthusiastically, "do you think they have any jobs going for new park rangers?" he joked. We all laughed.

"Maybe you'd get eaten by a lion." Mike muttered under his breath. We all turned to stare at him and he blushed and looked away sheepishly.

"Nah," Emmett said off-handly, "if we got caught by a lion it would take out the slowest one of us, which would be you, mate." We all laughed, even Mike who tried to make it seem like he was laughing with us but he didn't pull it off.

Our laughter was interrupted by the sound of excited squeals coming from the girls' jeep.

"What is it?" Edward asked, looking around sharply. Eric the guide leant out of his window to look forwards and see what the girls had seen. Then he laughed.

"Look up ahead." He advised us. We all craned our necks to see what had fascinated the girls so much. And there up ahead in the distance was a herd of zebras. The girls were still 'ooh'ing and 'aww'ing. It was pretty cool.

"They're littler than I expected," I commented. "I thought they were horse sized or something."

"You're an idiot, Emmett." Edward replied.

Eric stopped the jeep and turned back to us, "Get out and get a better look." He offered. In front the girls had already disembarked. My mad little cousin was actually bouncing up and down with excitement at her first glimpse of Kenyan wildlife. Demetri crossed straight over to her side, I might have to keep an eye on him if he was having thoughts like that. But more importantly Rosalie was stood just beside Alice. And Heidi was preoccupied by the stripy horses.

I sidled over to Rosalie. "Isn't this unforgettable?" I whispered to her in a soft and seductive voice. She turned to look at me. At first my hopes rose as her eyes were shining excitedly but my hopes soon died when her expression darkened into an icy glare at the sight of me.

She shot me a filthy look and then moved to stand by her brother. She muttered something to him and Jasper turned to give me an appraising look. Maybe it was time to back off for now. I would have another attempt later when Jasper wasn't so near at hand.

**Jasper's PoV**

Back in the jeeps I felt myself slip into a bit of a sulky mood. We were nearly at the end of the second day now and I had had no more interaction with Alice since we first met on the balcony yesterday. I desperately wanted to talk to her, to get to know her a bit better. I had never been so strongly attracted to someone at first sight before.

There was something special about Alice. I had thought originally that maybe it had been reciprocated but she had been paying almost sole attention to Demetri and hadn't paid me any notice other than the odd smile passed from a distance. Every time I tried to take advantage of an opportunity and talk to her Demetri got there first. It was so frustrating. I couldn't even find it in myself to strongly dislike Demetri, he seemed like a nice guy. He was obviously a lucky sucker as well to win Alice's attentions.

A voice interrupted me from my ruminations, "We're cool right man?" the big guy Emmett asked me quietly. I looked at him in surprise.

"Yeah of course, why do you ask that?" I responded. Emmett looked uneasy.

"Well… I just thought, you know… your sister and" he trailed off. I was shaking my head.

"Don't worry about it." I reassured him. "I'm not going to hold it against you. But good luck though, convincing her to like you, she usually treats the guys who like her like dirt. You're not going to have it easy." I was laughing by the end of my warning; the look on Emmett's face was priceless.

"I'll win her over," he muttered but he didn't look entirely convinced, even with himself.

"Like I said, good luck." I repeated. We were quiet for a second. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that Demetri was deep in conversation with Edward, not at all likely to overhear my conversation.

"About your cousin, Emmett." I started but he cut me off.

"Not you too," he groaned in mock exasperation, "I'd say good luck to both you and Demetri." He laughed.

"Why?" I asked surprised. Emmett carried on laughing.

"She'll run rings around you, she's the most hyperactive person I've ever known. Are you sure you like her enough?" he joked.

"Yeah," I muttered self-consciously, "You know her better though; do you think that she really likes Demetri?"

He shrugged, "You never can tell with Alice." was all he would say.

**Bella's PoV**

The sun was beginning to set as we finally drove up to the camp. The sky was a blazing orange now, breathtaking. I was getting sick of sitting still in the jeeps so I was relieved to see the camp up ahead. Excitement started to build in me again. Finally we were there.

The camp was amazing. We all jumped out of the jeeps immediately to go explore it. It was incredible. It was two circular structures raised a few feet off the ground. A curved walkway surrounded them both and connected them with a little bridge. They were open-sided letting in the cooler evening air, keeping it from becoming stuffy.

Inside there were little living rooms with a fire pit in the centre of the floor and comfy looking sofas and chairs. Each building had a bedroom, each with five beds, one for the girls one for the boys. We all ran from room to room squealing in enthusiasm. Even haughty Heidi seemed excited.

When we calmed down the two guides showed us how to cook dinner over the fires and all ten of us sat down to eat together, the guides slipping away to another part of the camp.

I found myself sat next to Edward again. He was looking through the pictures he had taken on his digital camera. I peered over his shoulder to look too. Seeing my movement he held out the camera so I could see better. He had taken quite a lot of pictures; of the land, the sky, the animals we had seen.

"I can't believe we got to see zebras already," I said.

"I know," he agreed, looking up to meet my eyes, "and we saw them so close as well. My photos don't really do it justice."

"Pictures never do. But these are really good, they're kinda professional looking, you're a good photographer." I told him, trying desperately hard not to blush.

"Thanks," he said with a grin. We smiled at each other for a moment before turning back to his pictures. To me it really felt like we were bonding already. I felt so close to him, like he was someone special in my life even though we had only just met. My heart was beating faster than usual just from being sat so close to him. God knows how I was going to survive the rest of the trip.

"Hey, look over there!" Mike shouted suddenly. We all jumped up in shock to see what he was pointing at. There stood against the sunset was a pair of giraffes. They were beautiful, tall and graceful looking even from a distance. Edward raised his camera again to photograph them. All I could do was stand there open mouthed at the sight. I had only ever seen giraffes in zoos before and in the wild they seemed much more majestic.

"You look like you've never seen a giraffe before," Edward teased softly from beside me. I looked up at him and saw the playful look on his beautiful handsome face. My heart skipped. Could this day possibly get any better?

He put on arm around my shoulder and gave me a brief one-armed hug, before turning away sheepishly. Yes, this day just had got better.

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It was fully night and the stars were out when we finally retreated to our beds. But if I thought I was about the get to go straight to sleep I had underestimated my best friend.

"Wow Bella! You and Edward! Already! You have to tell me everything." She squealed enthusiastically. Alice perked her head up and then bounded over to sit on my bed.

"Yeah, come on Bella, tell all." She demanded happily. I frowned at her.

"We are talking about your brother," I reminded her slowly.

"I don't mind. I want to hear what he has been saying to you. I've never seen him behave like this to any other girl before like he has been doing to you." She answered brightly.

"Really?" I asked in surprise.

She nodded. "Normally he doesn't pay any attention to girls but he hasn't been able to keep his eyes off you today. Do you like him?"

I nodded feeling myself blush again. Alice squealed and clapped her hands delightedly. "You so have to get together," she told me.

"Yes, definitely." Rose added, "He's perfect for you Bella." I glanced from one happy face to the other and then smiled.

"I'd like to." I admitted.

"Perfect. By the end of this trip you two will be the best couple I've ever seen, I can tell." Rose said matter-of-factly. I was blushing too much; I decided to change the subject.

"What about you and Emmett then?" I asked her pointedly. I saw Heidi turn slightly in our direction from the corner of my eye. Rose made a dismissive noise and then leant in towards us and whispered,

"He was flirting with that Heidi skank. If those are his standards then she can have him, whatever is good enough for her is too bad for me."

Alice looked unhappy. "Don't be too harsh on him, Rose. He is a very nice guy really. He just flirts too much. And he doesn't like Heidi."

Rosalie looked unconvinced. "He made it pretty obvious yesterday that he liked her." She said stubbornly.

Alice was shaking her head, "No, if he really liked her he would have done something already but he was basically ignoring her today. He didn't take his eyes off you and when she tried to talk to him he walked away. He definitely likes you more."

"Of course he does," Rose said arrogantly. I rolled my eyes at her and she stuck her tongue out in return. Alice giggled.

"Just give him a chance. Get to know him and you'll see that he's better than _that._" Alice insisted, tossing her head in Heidi's direction when she said "that".

Rosalie was looking at Alice speculatively now. "You like Demetri, right?" she asked her.

Alice shifted uneasily before she answered. "Yes," she said slowly.

"Why the hesitation?" I asked. Alice just shook her head.

"No, I definitely do like him," she insisted.

"Jasper likes you too." Rose added conversationally. Alice's head shot up.

"How do you know?" she asked, her eyes wide.

"It's a twin thing," was all Rose would say.

"So, you like Jasper too," I surmised. Alice nodded glumly.

"Who do you like the most?" I pressed.

"That's the problem, I don't know." She moaned. "I was pretty sure that Demetri liked me but I knew I still felt something for Jasper too but I was depressed because he didn't seem interested and hasn't spoken to me all day, but now you say he does like me and I still like Demetri so now I don't know what to think." She said all this very fast. Rosalie and I exchanged a glance.

"Well," Rose said slowly, "I guess you're just going to have to try and figure out who you like the most."

"Jasper makes a really good boyfriend if that helps." I told her.

Rosalie nodded, "He won't mess you around."

"But by what I've seen of him so far, Demetri seems like a pretty decent guy too so I don't know what to say." I added.

"Helpful, Bella." Rose said sarcastically.

"I'll spend some time with both of them tomorrow and see if that helps me make up my mind." Alice said decisively. "Are you sure you're ok with me potentially going out with your brother?" she added, turning to Rose.

"Of course," she answered.

"I'm definitely ok with you two going out with my brother and cousin, so you've got no excuses." Alice warned us before hopping off my bed and climbing into hers. I grinned at her. I liked Alice a lot; she was easy to be friends with.

So I had a new best friend and potentially might have a boyfriend soon. Not bad for one day's work.

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I have some pictures up on my profile of the camp and the animals that they saw. Go check them out!

**And I can guarantee that mystery I promised you in the summary will begin in the next chapter and start properly in chapter 5. So things are about to get a lot more exciting :D**

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	4. Caught by the Storm

**Sorry this took so long, but I had trouble with the start of this chapter, particularly Rosalie's bit. It just wouldn't work! So please just bear with that bit. But I enjoyed writing the rest of it. I hope you enjoy it too…**

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Rosalie's PoV

We had to get up really early the next morning to start trekking across the savannah in order to reach the next camp in good time. The guides warned us that it was going to be a lot a walking and we had better brace ourselves. Despite that I felt like bursting with excitement to get going. A little walk wasn't going to put me off.

Everyone was quiet this early on. I guessed that all the others were still half asleep. I thought about what Alice had said to me last night. Maybe I should try giving Emmett a second chance.

I sidled up to him where he was walking ahead of me. "Hey Emmett." I said softly to attract his attention. He turned sharply and stared at me in surprise before grinning broadly down at me. He had a very cute smile.

"Hey Rosalie. It's good to see that at least one person here is a morning person." He commented with a cheeky grin. I smiled at the compliment, normally I was really crabby if forced to get up earlier than usual. But I had a feeling that it was going to take a lot to spoil my mood today.

"It's easy to be a morning person when you have something so good to get up for," I replied casually. I saw Emmett raise his eyebrows a little, his eyes sparkling. "The thought of getting to see this beautiful scenery again was more than enough to get me out of bed." I added, unable to resist toying with him a bit.

Emmett chuckled. "What else." he murmured, his deep voice unconsciously seductive. "Where are you from?" he suddenly shot at me.

"Washington. When I was little we used to live in California but then my parents decided they wanted to live somewhere quieter and so we ended up in this tiny town in Washington called Forks. I'm glad we did though because Bella's dad is the police chief there and so if we hadn't moved we would never have met her. What about you?"

"I live just outside of New York." He answered easily. "Edward and Alice live in Manhattan though."

"You're cousins, right?" I questioned. He nodded.

"I'm older though. I'm 20 and Edward's 18. Alice is 17…" he hesitated, "I think." He added with a frown. I giggled; he looked so cute when he was confused.

"Your only a year older than me then," I commented nonchalantly. He grinned again, looking pleased with himself.

We carried on chatting like this while we walked. He was very easy to talk to; the conversation remained on a light-hearted easy tone. It wasn't long before I was talking to him like we had been friends for life, which was unusual as it normally took me a long time to open up to new people. Emmett was different.

Several hours and an elephant sighting passed swiftly in his company. The rest of our group seemed to come more alive as time went by. I saw that Jasper had opened up a conversation with Alice. Finally. Maybe he could stop sulking now.

**Jasper's PoV**

It didn't take long into the conversation before Alice and I both found ourselves laughing excessively. What had started as an ordinary conversation had evolved into a sharing of embarrassing stories of the stupid things our families had done. Most of Alice's stories seemed to revolve around pranks she and Emmett had pulled on Edward.

"You know, I wouldn't put it past Rose and Emmett to come up with some diabolical prank on the rest of us here. They look way too conspiratorial to me." I told Alice.

She sniggered. "Emmett wouldn't dare." She said simply. An evil expression crossed her face and then we both burst our laughing again.

"So," Alice said when she caught her breath, "do you and Rose have any cool twin superpowers or anything." I rolled my eyes.

"Good one, Alice." I said dryly.

"No, I'm serious." She protested. "Can't you read each other's mind or something? Or magically know when something bad happens to each other?"

I laughed again. "Not really. We usually tend to be thinking along the same lines anyway, so some people insist we must read each other's mind but it isn't really anything as cool as that. And I always know when Rose is in a bad mood but that's more to do with learning from experience than being psychic."

"So, are you going to tell me that neither of you is the evil twin?" she asked me sounding disappointed.

"Oh no, Rose is definitely the evil twin. Just wait until you see her in a bad mood!" I warned.

"Would it be worth getting her in a bad mood if I had a really good idea for a prank?" she asked in a sweet playful tone, her eyes narrowing speculatively.

"Depends on how good the prank is." I watched her closely trying to discern some sign of what was forming in her head. Alice came to an abrupt stop as her brow furrowed in concentration. But before I could say anything to her that infuriating Mike walked straight into her and knocked her to the ground, landing on top of her heavily. I swore angrily and dragged him off her and to his feet. I helped Alice gently up and she seemed to be unhurt. She was glaring fiercely at Mike though.

"Look where you're walking, idiot." I snarled at him. I heard quick footsteps and Emmett darted over to us. He looked blazingly angry at Mike.

"What the hell was that?" he demanded. "I thought I told you to stay away from her."

"Hey, it was just an accident." Mike angrily shot back.

"Yeah, right." Rosalie threw in, "I've seen the way you've been looking at all us girls, you know, and it's disgusting." I could feel my own temper rising too now at my sister's words.

"What happened?" Edward commanded as the others all caught up with us.

"This jerk threw himself on top of Alice." Emmett snapped, his voice rising.

"I didn't!" Mike yelled back.

"Oh yeah?" I sneered, "she stopped long before you walked into her, there is no way that you could have not seen her."

Mike stuttered now, seeming a bit flustered.

"It felt like you did it on purpose," Alice muttered darkly.

"How dare you touch my sister!" Edward spat, becoming visibly angrier by the second.

"You know, maybe it was just an accident," Angela suggested softly.

"Accident? Not likely! He's been watching Alice out of the corner of his eye the whole time." Demetri snapped.

"He has." Rose agreed. Bella was nodding.

"Listen here, Mike." Emmett hissed threateningly. "If you ever…" but his words were drowned by a huge crash of thunder resounding from directly overhead. All the girls screamed. Alice clutched my arm tightly.

We all jumped again as a flash of forked lightning blinded us from close by on our left. Far too close by. I looked up at the sky in alarm and saw that it had turned a dangerous stormy dark colour with black clouds roiling hectically above us. How had the sun disappeared so fast?

Another huge crack of thunder crashed around us and there were more screams. I could have sworn that one of the girlish squeals came from Mike.

Then Heidi, screaming like she was being butchered to death, took flight and began to sprint off in the direction of the next camp, which was just visible on the horizon. Without hesitation we all began to race after her, intent on reaching the relative safety of the camp.

The rain began to cascade down furiously, drenching us to the skin in seconds. The ground under foot, becoming wet, was suddenly a lot harder to run on. Bella slipped and stumbled nearly falling. I hesitated for her but Edward had already caught her and was pulling her along.

"Where have the guides gone?" Edward bellowed over a renewed crash of thunder. I looked around wildly. They were nowhere in sight. I couldn't even remember when was the last time I had seen them.

Lightning shot down and hit the ground terrifyingly close to where we ran, only about a hundred yards away. Alice screamed again, she was practically sobbing with fear now.

Heidi and Rose reached the camp first and scrambled quickly up onto the 5-foot high walkway, slipping from the rain. Emmett threw them up as he reached them and then hauled himself up, dragging them quickly inside.

Mike and Demetri reached it next with Angela close behind. Mike struggled up and raced inside while Demetri paused to help Angela up first. As he leapt up he turned looking back for Alice. When I drew close enough I grabbed her by the waist and swung her up into Demetri's arms. I dragged myself up after her and turned to grab Bella's hands and pull her up. She was shivering like mad and her eyes were wide with fear. I pulled her towards the more sheltered inner rooms, Edward close behind.

**Bella's PoV**

I stumbled inside being half carried by Jasper. I was soaked through and shivering from shock and fear. I glanced around at the others. Everyone was dripping wet and seemed to be in varying states of shock.

Angela was trying to start a fire from the wood that had been placed ready for our arrival. Rose and Heidi were carrying in towels and blankets. Rose was visibly shaking, Heidi was sobbing slightly. Emmett walked quickly over to Rose and put his arm around her shoulders. She shut her eyes and buried her face into his shoulder. Demetri was pulling Alice over to the fire, she was clinging tightly to his shirt her eyes frozen wide. Mike sat huddled in a corner.

Jasper was saying something to me but I wasn't listening. Edward took my arm and towed me over to the now crackling fire. He wrapped a blanket around my shoulders and sat down next to me, chafing my arms to warm me up.

Another huge crack of thunder made us start. Alice whimpered. Everyone sat down close together around the fire. I let my head rest on Edward's shoulder. I felt unimaginably safer now that we were indoors. The others seemed to be thinking the same.

"Thank god we made it," murmured Rosalie. Everyone nodded.

"That was way too close," added Demetri. I shuddered.

"Where did the guides go?" Jasper asked in a low voice. I glanced around in shock. I had completely forgotten them.

"They were gone before the storm started." Edward muttered.

"That doesn't make any sense." Angela contributed, "they wouldn't have just left us." No one answered. It appeared that they had just left us.

We sat still and silent for a long time, just listening to the sounds of the storm whirling around us. I flinched at every roll of thunder and flash of lightning. Finally it seemed to retreat a little. Alice stirred.

"Maybe we should have something to eat." She suggested in a very quiet voice. I nodded and rose wearily to my feet to go hunt out some food. But as I stood something caught my eye. A figure was standing silhouetted in the doorway. I screamed the loudest, highest scream of my life. Everyone leapt to their feet, whirling towards the door.

"It's alright. It's just me, calm down." The silhouette said and he stepped forwards into the light. It was Eric, the younger of the two guides. He looked like a drowned rat.

"Where have you been?" Emmett asked suspiciously.

"Caught in the storm." He answered heavily. "We had drawn a little way off from you guys to give you some peace as you walked. When the storm struck the rain was too heavy to see you clearly. Everything got confused. I lost track of Martin, your other guide, and I've been trying to find him but there's no sign. I was hoping he had made it back here."

"He's still out there?" Heidi asked in a whisper. Eric nodded uneasily.

"It'll be alright," he reassured her, "he knows what he is doing, he'll probably turn up here in the morning. We'll just wait here until he shows up."

I turned away again and walked over to the cupboards that held the food. Eric's reassurances were logical and made sense. But if that was so then why did the hair on the back of my neck stand on end when he said them?

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Scary stuff! And it is about to get creepier! Muahahaha! And you know I was so tempted to call this chapter "thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening" but Queen didn't seem very appropriate right now! Lol

Two more pictures are up on my profile if you want to take a look : )

**Reviews, anyone?**


	5. Heidi

**This chapter is dedicated to CourtneyFirehand for giving me the best review ever! Thanks! You absolutely made my day!**

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Alice's PoV

When we woke up the next day it was obvious that the weather had returned to its usual transcendent self. It was sultry and the sunshine was so bright that I could scarcely believe that the storm had actually happened yesterday. Despite this Eric still insisted that we had to stay put until the other guide returned. He said he wasn't allowed to take us anywhere without another guide present.

None of us really seemed to mind overly much. It was nice to just sit around for a day and get to know each other better. It had only been a couple of days ago that we had met although it already felt like longer. We spent the majority of the morning just sat around chatting but by afternoon I was bored.

"Let's do something." I said suddenly to Bella, Rosalie and Angela whom I was sat with, "I don't want to just sit around and waste the rest of this day."

"What do you want to do?" asked Bella sitting up and looking at me curiously. I shrugged.

"We could go for a walk," Rose suggested, "we don't have to go far but it would make a change and we might see something cool, you never know."

I felt my expression brighten. "Perfect," I trilled. "Who's coming?"

"I'm in." Bella said immediately, "but I warn you I may trip." Rose snorted.

"Angela?" I asked, turning to her.

"I think I'll pass. I feel like just staying here today. The memory of that storm is still too fresh in my memory." She mock-shuddered and then turned back to the sketch of the landscape she was making.

Rose jumped to her feet, "Should we invite the boys?" she asked.

I deliberated. "Erm… I think we shouldn't. Mike's with them and you know he will come. We'll just make this girly time." I concluded grinning. In truth I didn't want to feel torn between both Jasper and Demetri again; it was difficult when they were both around and I needed a break from the added stress.

So the three of us set off in a random direction through the scrubby trees. However we hadn't got very far when we heard footsteps behind us and turned to see Edward, Emmett and Jasper running to catch up with us.

"Hey, how come you knew we were going for a walk?" I asked as they approached.

"Heidi was being a pain hitting on Emmett every five seconds and eventually the pleading puppy dog eyes look from him became to much to ignore so we rescued him and came after you. Angela told us you had just gone this way." Edward explained. I looked up at Emmett, he was looking very sorry for himself. We all laughed.

"How did you rescue him?" Bella inquired curiously.

"We sacrificed Demetri to her and she was distracted for long enough for us to get away." Jasper told us.

"Poor guy." Emmett added with a shudder. "That Heidi is rabid." We all laughed.

"That's a bit harsh on her, isn't it?" I told Emmett.

"You wouldn't say that if you had witnessed her just now." He assured me. I glanced at Rosalie and she looked smug. _Perfect, _I thought victoriously, concealing a grin.

We set off walking again laughing and teasing Emmett as we went. The six of us seemed to unconsciously move into pairs as we walked. Edward had sidled over to Bella at the first opportunity and was now talking to her with his head lowered towards her, a look of almost fascination on his face as he listened to her. I caught a snatch of what they were talking about and it seemed that Edward was grilling Bella with a bombardment of questions about herself. _Perfect, _I thought again.

Emmett meanwhile was scoring more points with Rosalie by doing ridiculous and exaggerated impressions of Heidi. Rose was laughing harder than was strictly necessary. I guessed that she was the kind of girl who didn't like being threatened by any other female. I wondered for a moment how she had come to be such good friends with Bella in that case.

But that of course left me with Jasper. _Extra perfect, _I thought a third time, unable to wholly conceal my grin this time.

"Have you recovered after yesterday?" he asked me, no hint of teasing in his tone.

"Yeah, I was ok once I stopped shaking," I said with a giggle, "I was pretty freaked out though. That lightning was scarily close. As we were running I kept thinking that we were going to be struck down by it."

He nodded sympathetically. "I would hate to be the guide, stuck out there on his own with nowhere in sight to run to. I can't blame him from getting disoriented."

"Do you really think that happened?" I asked him, a worried note creeping into my voice, "I mean I thought that these guides knew this area better than anyone. You don't think that he might be hurt or something."

"Eric knows what he's on about." He said although I could see that he was unsettled by my fears.

I decided to change the subject. "Let's continue planning the super-prank on the others." I hissed exuberantly at him. He broke into a grin, and then glanced over his shoulder at the others before tugging me a little further away from them as we renewed our conspiring.

**Jasper's PoV**

Even though it had been scary yesterday and the guide was still missing I was extremely grateful that we had spent this day not trekking. The whole of the afternoon was spent with Alice and I coming up with ever more ambitious and ludicrous ideas for pranking the others. Most of the ideas wouldn't work but that wasn't the point. It was fun coming up with them anyway. But in the end the light started to fade and so we headed back to the camp and the others.

The mood there was oppressive. Everyone seemed to be sulking. Except for Angela who seemed to be trying not to laugh. Mike had a disappointed look on his face when he saw us all come walking in laughing together. I guessed that he was annoyed that he had missed out on our little outing. Heidi was sitting with both her arms and legs tightly crossed and was shooting angry looks at Demetri every few minutes. Demetri was sat watching her warily; I noticed that he had positioned himself so that Angela was safely between him and Heidi.

Upon seeing us Angela got up and crossed to us, unable to keep from grinning.

"You're going to be so disappointed that you missed this," she murmured to us, her voice too low for the others to catch. I raised my eyebrows. With a quick glance over her shoulder Angela verified that the others weren't listening and then continued,

"Heidi was annoyed that you lot had all slipped away without her and so she started following Demetri everywhere. She kept cutting me off when I tried to speak to him and eventually he lost his temper and basically told her what everyone's been dying to say all along and then told her to just get over herself. You should have seen her face! But then she got on her high horse and started to try and say something nasty back but Demetri didn't even give her the chance. Then Mike decided to take advantage of the situation and tried to comfort Heidi, but she just screamed at him that he was a 'desperate little puppy and stormed off. So now they're all pissed off. I didn't even dare say anything."

I did laugh then, as did the others, my imagination creating some very amusing images. She was right; I did wish we hadn't missed that. And now Heidi would probably pay more attention to Emmett than ever. I laughed harder.

There was an interesting dynamic in the room when we all sat down to eat. Heidi, Demetri and Mike maintained stony silences but Emmett on the other hand took it upon himself to be even louder than he had been before and kept making double-ended comments to jibe at them. Heidi was visibly getting more and more offended with every word. Emmett had better be careful.

A quiet lull came in the conversation when Emmett started to shovel his food into his mouth and therefore could no longer keep making innuendo at the others. I glanced at Alice who was sat beside me. _I wonder what she thinks of what happened today? _I mused to myself. Her face revealed nothing.

My thoughts were cut off by the sound of gagging coming from across the table. For a moment it looked like Heidi was choking but then I realised that she was just protesting to the taste of her food.

"This is horrible," she rasped, a hand over her mouth, "I feel like I'm going to be sick."

"It's not that bad," my sister said waspishly. Her eyes had narrowed menacingly.

"It is," Heidi insisted, "I can't eat it." And she moaned as if she really was about to vomit.

"Well you better just get used to it because we don't know how long we're going to have to wait here so just eat the damn thing," Alice snapped with a surprising amount of venom.

Heidi was beginning to look green.

"She does actually look ill guys," I said quietly.

"Have something to drink, Heidi." Angela said solicitously, passing her a glass.

But it was too late. Heidi shoved herself away from the table, her chair legs scraping loudly on the floor and raced outside with her hand pressed over her mouth. We heard her footsteps pound away and then a retching noise.

"Guess she was ill then," Bella muttered.

"Or bulimic," Rose added cattily. I shot a warning look at her.

A little while passed and Heidi did not come back in. After a quarter of an hour had gone by Angela said she was going to go check on her and went outside. A couple of minutes later she came back in looking confused.

"She's not there." She said simply.

"Maybe she's gone to bed," Bella suggested.

Angela shook her head, "I checked all the rooms and she's not in any of them. I don't know where she can have gone."

A cold shiver ran down my spine. I exchanged a look with Edward and saw the same feelings mirrored in his eyes.

"I'll go get Eric." Angela said decisively and darted from the room.

"What the hell?" Emmett muttered almost to himself. I knew what he meant; this was bizarre, why would she disappear like that? To get back at us, maybe?

Eric and Angela quickly re-entered. "When did she go outside?" he asked briskly, his eyes tight.

"About 20 minutes ago," Edward said.

"And she went just outside, no further?"

"Yes, we heard her throwing up," Alice said in a small voice. I gave her hand a quick squeeze and she clutched mine back.

"I'll go out and look for her now," Eric said quickly. Demetri instantly stood up.

"I'll come too," he said, I could tell that he felt guilty for what he had said to her earlier now.

"Me too," I said rising myself. I don't know entirely why, but I just had the urgent desire to be doing something rather than sitting and waiting here for her return.

Eric was nodding, "The rest of you stay here and don't go anywhere until we come back." And then he whipped off out into the pitch black of the Masai Mara night. Demetri and I following him close behind.

It was a beautiful night, I suppose. The air was cool and clear unlike the heady, sultry air of earlier. The sky was clear and filled with more stars than I would have thought possible. But there was no moon and it was very, very dark. I couldn't imagine why anyone would want to go wandering off on their own on a night like this in the middle of a foreign continent.

Mike had a flashlight and seemed to know where he was going. Demetri and I just continued to follow him, looking out for any signs of life of which there were none.

We had been walking perhaps ten minutes when Demetri suddenly grabbed my sleeve. He was pointing to a bush nearby with something dark on it. I couldn't tell what it was.

"What is it?" I asked him but he merely shook his head.

"Eric." He called in a slightly raised voice. He never took his eyes off the patch on the bush. Eric turned and came back to us. He shone his flashlight at us and then moved its beam towards where we were staring.

When the light hit the bush I recoiled with horrible recognition. Eric swore. The dark patch was hair, Heidi's hair. It was easily recognisable. Straight, shiny and mahogany coloured. It looked like it had been shorn clean off.

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So what has happened to Heidi?

**I'd love to hear your theories… you never know one of you might be right, you guys can be scarily accurate at times ; )**

**Please review :D**


	6. Unspoken Fears

**Wow! I got a great response for the last chapter. You guys rock! And some of you did get close with your theories but I'm not saying who ; )**

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Edward's PoV

Heidi didn't show up the next day either. Another search party went out in the morning to look again but all they discovered was some scuffed footprints in the ground where she had thrown up. There was no other sign of her anywhere. We were all at a loss as to where she could have gone.

A lot of time was spent expounding on theories of what might have happened to her. Mike was adamant that she had been savaged by a lion but as Eric pointed out for that to be true there would have to have been blood on the ground and we would most likely have heard something. Bella and Angela felt that Heidi must have got lost in the dark and were keen to keep sending out search parties until she was found. I was happy to see that Bella wasn't the angry bitter kind of girl like some I had known and that she was genuinely concerned for Heidi even though she hadn't liked her.

Rosalie was perhaps the least helpful with her declaration that Heidi was just doing it to get attention and that she would come back once she realised nobody cared and that we weren't looking for her. I was beginning to realise that this was typical Rosalie behaviour.

Personally I was leaning towards the idea that Heidi had somehow found someone out there, or a trail, or maybe even Martin, the other guide. To me Heidi hadn't seemed like the type of girl who would wander off on her own. To me it seemed that she would most likely stick with the group however much we all disliked her, rather than end up all alone in the middle of nowhere. And she also seemed like someone who would be perfectly capable of going off without any thought about the rest of us if they had found Martin or someone else. I could see flaws in this theory but it was the best I could come up with.

The day ended with no Heidi and everyone else beginning to become a little agitated. I had spent the past half hour pacing restlessly about the camp when I saw Bella's silhouette as she sat staring out across the distance into the setting sun. I went to sit with her.

"Hey, are you alright?" I asked her softly. She nodded slowly.

"I'm worried." She murmured.

"About Heidi?"

She paused before answering. "Yes, I am worried for Heidi," she told me hesitantly. "But I'm worried for the rest of us too."

"Why?" I asked confused, "We're all safe together here. Nothing bad is going to happen to us."

"I don't feel safe, Edward." She said turning to look at me; her eyes were wide and fearful looking. "There's something bad going on around us, I know it. I can't find anything logical to back up my feelings but I keep thinking that something's wrong and I'm scared that I'll be next." She was working herself up now. I slipped my arms around her shoulders comfortingly.

"You're just freaking out over what happened, that's all. It's just the shock. Trust me there will be a reasonable explanation for all this. There's no threat to us; it's all in your mind. You're building up what happened to Heidi into some great conspiracy that it isn't." I said gently. But Bella was shaking her head fervently.

"No. I felt this way before Heidi disappeared. Do you remember when Eric turned up at the camp during the storm? I was so on edge then that I nearly had a heart attack at the sight of him even though it was only Eric. As soon as we arrived here in this camp I have felt some kind of underlying… menace or something. Like as soon as we were here we were in danger. That there's something waiting for us here. I feel like we've been led here like lambs to the slaughter." Her voice had risen desperately as she went on.

I wanted to deny what she had said. But I couldn't do that and be entirely truthful. Granted I hadn't felt anything quite as sinister as what Bella had said she had but there was still that prickling on the back of my neck that I kept feeling. Like the sensation you get when someone is watching you from behind but not quite the same as that. I had felt very uneasy all day. But I still wasn't prepared to fall apart over unfounded superstitions.

I pulled Bella closer into my arms and she rested her head against my shoulder. "It's all going to be ok, I promise you Bella. I'll look after you. Nothing's going to hurt you."

If only I had taken her fears more seriously from the start then perhaps we might have been able to avoid some of what was to come.

**Emmett's PoV**

I had expected everyone to be calming down by now as we entered the second day since Heidi's disappearance. But no, everyone was still as twitchy as ever. If I was honest I didn't really miss Heidi at all; she had caused too much trouble with Rose. I also felt that Rose was probably right and that Heidi was going to turn up in a couple of days having hidden herself to get back at us.

Everyone was miserable at breakfast. We all sat around eating in silence with brooding looks on our faces. You would have thought that we were at a funeral. I sighed loudly.

"Can we please lighten the mood, people. It is seriously getting me down now and it's boring." I said loudly. Edward shot me a dark look that clearly told me to shut it. "I can't help it." I continued, "this is boring me to tears, can we at least do something today other than sitting around moping."

I caught Alice's eye and I could see that she was going to agree. "We might as well try and do something fun while we're stuck here." She put in. I beamed at her.

"What are we going to do?" asked Jasper.

"We should play a game." Alice said brightly, her natural enthusiasm showing through.

"Yeah," I agreed warmly, "we could play hide-and-seek in all the bushes and stuff around the camp." Everyone's faces darkened at my words and I belatedly remembered how Heidi had vanished.

"Tasteful, Emmett." Edward muttered under his breath.

"We could play truth or dare." Rose suggested silkily.

"Perfect!" I exclaimed. Everyone else nodded in consent.

"I'll go first." Alice trilled, and she turned to her left, "Bella, truth or dare."

Bella paused a moment and looked like she was mentally weighing Alice up. If I could I would have warned her to never underestimate Alice in a game of truth or dare.

"Truth." She said finally. Alice's grin widened mischievously.

"Tell us all about the dream you had last night."

Bella's eyes widened in horror and she flushed a deep red. It seems that Alice had chosen well with her question. "I – I can't remember it." She stuttered.

We all chimed in then that she obviously could and encouraged her to just say it. She blushed again and then answered very quietly.

"I just dreamt about the storm again and…" she trailed off.

"And?" Alice prompted.

"And I dreamt I fell over before I reached the camp and then Edward carried me there. Which is kinda what happened." She finished defensively. I looked at Edward; he was staring at the ground with a small smile playing about his lips.

"If you don't want me to ask you about your dreams, Bella you shouldn't talk in your sleep." Alice commented happily. Bella shot her a dark look.

"Your turn, Bella." I said and then watched as her eyes quickly scanned the group.

"Jasper." She said eventually. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare." He said easily without hesitation. A cunning look crossed Bella's face.

"I dare you to eat the leftovers of the food Alice made last night." Bella said slowly.

I burst out into a roar of laughter. Alice threw I shoe at me. Her food had barely been edible last night; I didn't even want to think what it would be like now. Jasper looked gutted. I skipped off to gather up the leftovers and bring them to Jasper.

"Sorry, Jazz." Alice said apologetically.

He sighed dramatically as I handed him the plate.

I had to hand it to Jasper that he didn't manage to stomach the lot. But I suspected that that had more to do with the fact that he didn't want to hurt Alice's feelings by throwing it up rather than anything to do with the dare. Rose was having absolute hysterics as she watched her brother's face.

When Jasper had finally finished and after he had taken a long, long drink he turned to a still laughing Rose.

"You can stop laughing right now." He said threateningly. She fell silent, looking uneasy now. "Truth or dare, Rose." He said in a falsely sweet tone.

"Dare." She answered in what was clearly meant to be a bold careless voice but a slight undercurrent of fear managed to make itself audible. Jasper grinned delightedly at her answer.

He dropped his voice to a low menacing tone. "I dare you… to kiss Mike. Properly."

My jaw dropped. Rose looked scandalised.

"I can't." she said.

"You've got no choice, you chose dare." Jasper reminded her evilly. She glared at him and folded her arms sulkily.

"Where is he then?" she demanded. There was a silence.

"He wasn't in the room when we got up this morning." Demetri offered. "Actually I haven't seen him all day."

"I'll go find him if you want." Angela said helpfully. Rose's expression darkened further.

"I'm coming." Alice said cheerfully and the two girls skipped out the room, we could hear their laughter echoing in from outside.

Ten minutes passed and they had still not returned. At this point I was bored of waiting. I got up to go see where they had got to. I had thought that Mike would come running at the chance to get kissed by Rosalie, the little perv. I would have to talk to him afterwards and make sure that he still knew there were lines he mustn't cross.

I spotted Bella and Angela stood outside talking to Eric and made my way over to them. As I neared them Angela turned and came to meet me.

"We can't find him anywhere." She told me in a low voice. "And no one's even seen him all day."

"You mean that Mike's gone missing too?" I qualified, dumbfounded. She nodded.

"Eric thinks that he might have gone the same way as Heidi." She said tensely.

"But we don't even know what happened to Heidi." I said as I felt a shiver run up my spine. "What the hell is going on, Ange?"

She just shook her head, at a loss for words. I turned and headed back inside to the others. I half expected them to not be there, to have vanished just like Mike and Heidi had. But they were all there, looking up expectantly.

And I delivered those two subconsciously feared words: "Mike's missing."

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What do you make of that then? First Heidi, now Mike.

**Please review…**


	7. Broken Paradise

**Right, this is the second time I've uploaded this chapter becuase the emails don't seem to be working. Fingers crossed it works now**

**Sorry about the delay on this one but I've had a several major crises this week and so I wasn't in the mood for writing. Also all week long I've been performing every night in a dance show so I've had no time either. Please forgive me!**

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Alice's PoV

So now we had two unexplained mysteries. Three actually if you counted the other guide as well although somehow we never seemed to count him when we discussed what had happened to Heidi and Mike. Generally everyone was still divided on whether they thought this was all just an elaborate prank or something more sinister. I was undecided but it was hard to believe that any more of us were about to vanish too. It seemed so unlikely.

Nothing else happened at all until two days later when Eric suggested we go on a little walk to a nearby river to make a change from sitting around waiting in the camp. I must admit I was more than a little excited by this prospect. Especially when Eric added that this was a crocodile free area and therefore we could go swimming!

At mid-afternoon that day we arrived on the bank of a small, slow-flowing river. The water was clear and cool looking and I could not wait to be in it. I wasn't the only one either.

"Geronimo!" bellowed Emmett as he cannonballed into the water, completely submerging himself momentarily. Everyone laughed as he came up dripping and spitting out water – he hadn't closed his mouth when he jumped in.

Angela grabbed Bella's hand and towed her down to the water's edge, much more gracefully than Emmett. Edward quickly followed. I glanced down at the ground. The bank here was quite steep and I scanned it for the easiest path down. It was all right for all these tall people, they had it easy, but when you've only got little legs steep drops are a problem.

I gingerly took a step down the first part of the bank before I was distracted by an ear-splitting shriek. I looked up just in time to see Jasper fling Rosalie headlong into the water from where she had been stood on the bank. _So that is how he is getting his revenge for the dare,_ I thought to myself before turning back to examine the bank again. _How on earth am I supposed to manage this without slipping down and embarrassing myself?_

Just as I was bending my knees in readiness for a jump I heard a deep chuckle from behind me. I looked up to see Demetri grinning at me.

"Need any help?" he asked, raising one eyebrow.

"I'd love some." I sighed in relief.

Demetri strode forwards and stepped easily down the bank before turning back to me. He reached out and wrapped an arm around my waist and lightly lifted me down. He set me on my feet right by the river's edge, just where I wanted to be. I glanced up at him, smiling, about to thank him but then I saw how close we stood to one another and all thoughts went out my head. My heart skittered excitedly.

Demetri's eyes were burning into mine but I couldn't draw my gaze away. We started to lean in towards each other. His hand brushed my waist again. I turned my face up towards his. My breath caught. We were unbearably and brilliantly close to each other when Emmett's huge voice rang out again making us jump apart.

"Come on you too, stop dawdling and come join the fun!" he yelled in our direction. Demetri and I grinned a little sheepishly at each other as we realised how close we had been to kissing one another.

"Let's go." I murmured, avoiding his gaze. He chuckled again and grabbed my hand to pull me into the water after him.

In the baking heat of the African sun the water felt blissfully cool and refreshing. I swam out into the deeper water towards Bella and the others while waiting for my heart to slow down again.

**Bella's PoV**

"So Rose…" Emmett said in an alluring voice, "that is a very nice bikini you are wearing." I rolled my eyes; Rose never took well to someone who was so obvious. But she surprised me. She simply smiled coyly at him and flicked her long blonde hair over her shoulder, the movement slightly marred by the wetness of her hair.

"Although," Emmett continued grinning mischievously, "I must admit that I would rather see you without it." And he winked. There was a moment's silence as everyone stared at him stunned. Edward groaned softly beside me. I watched my best friend closely to see what she would do.

Rose stared at him for a moment and then rolled her eyes. She didn't like people who said things like that, her ex-boyfriend had been full of it and he had hurt her badly. She turned her back on Emmett and waded over to us but I was surprised to see that her eyes were sparkling and she seemed to be holding back a smile.

"I'll get him back later," she murmured to us definitely smiling now. I just shrugged; there was no understanding Rose sometimes.

Emmett was looking dejected. I saw him catch Jasper's eye but he did not look at all pleased and Emmett turned away despondently. He looked up at the bank before he bellowed up to Alice and Demetri who had still not appeared.

"Come on you two, stop dawdling and come join the fun!" I didn't miss the ironic note in his voice as he said 'fun.

"What are you going to do to Emmett then?" Angela asked Rose quietly. Rose shrugged.

"I haven't thought of anything yet." She confessed.

"Splash him?" I suggested feebly. It was the best thing I could come up with. Rose gave me a scornful look but then shrugged and smiled.

"What the hell, why not!" she declared. She turned to Alice as she swam up. "Want to join in a splashing war against the boys?" she asked her.

"Yeah!" She replied enthusiastically. I noticed she looked rather flushed and breathless, _what was she doing with Demetri behind those bushes?_

The four of us shared some conspiratorial looks and nods and then set about creeping up behind the boys. I headed in Edward's direction, naturally. He still had his back to me.

When I was right behind him I got into my prime splashing position and called his name softly. He turned to look at me. And I got him full in the face. He gasped in shock then began to grin. I tried to retreat but wasn't quick enough. Before I knew it I couldn't see a thing for flying water.

The air was full of screeches from the girls as the boys retaliated and chaos ensued as the war got fully under way. Laughing madly, I threw myself at Edward's shoulders to try and push him underwater. Angela joined me a second later and we pushed him down. But just as I succeeded someone caught hold of my arms from behind. I twisted in time to see it was Jasper holding me before he pulled me backwards through the water. Edward having regained the surface grabbed my legs.

Together the two boys managed to drag me out of the water onto the bank where they swung me three times and then threw me back into the river, ignoring my screams the whole time.

Everyone had fallen apart laughing by the time I struggled back above water. Rose was clinging to Emmett's shoulder as she howled with laughter. She had clearly forgiven him then.

"Ange, you were supposed to be helping me! What happened?" I yelled in mock frustration as I scanned about for her. I looked around every face twice never seeing hers.

"Where's Angela?" I asked the group in general. The laughing finally subsided as everyone looked around.

Emmett took a deep breath and bellowed, "ANGELA!" so loudly that I couldn't help but jump but no reply came.

"Not again." Alice whispered her face turning white.

"She was right here." I said my voice rising slightly, "she helped me push Edward under. She was right beside me when you two pulled me out."

No one said anything. I felt myself begin to shake.

"Why would she leave right then when we were all having fun? And without saying anything to us?" Rose asked perplexedly.

"Do you really still believe that Heidi and Mike just went off because they felt like it?" I said to her, my voice low with restrained emotion.

"Someone's taken them." Alice said sounding close to tears. Edward put his arm around her while simultaneously taking hold of my hand too.

"How could someone have taken Angela when she was right here without any of us seeing anything?" Demetri put in, his brow furrowed.

No one answered.

"Well they did somehow." Edward said at last.

"Please, let's go find Eric." I pleaded. Everyone nodded in agreement.

Eric wasn't on the bank when we reached it. We struggled quickly back into our clothes already half dry from the relentless sun. We looked around for him but he wasn't to be seen. Someone suggested that he might have gone back to the camp and so we set off back there. I think you already know what we found there.

The camp was just as we had left it earlier in the day. There was no sign that anyone had been anywhere near here since we had left. And there was no Eric.

We had been uneasy before but now it seemed confirmed that we were being targeted. It is a strange feeling to know that you are not safe, that you are threatened by some lurking unseen menace. To know that there is danger coming for you soon but not knowing when. It also took me by surprise how much we had subconsciously relied on Eric. He had been a safety net, a protector. With him around we had always felt taken care of and known that someone was in charge of keeping us safe. It is so very easy to leave care for your well being to someone else, you see.

But now… we were alone to take care of ourselves. There was no one around to understand and explain what was going on. No one to tell us what was the best thing to do in this situation. No one who knew what to do at all now. Also without our guide an undefined time limit was set over our heads, slowly but irrepressibly ticking down. For we could not survive out here forever without assistance. We had limited supplies and no knowledge of how to get back to the rest of the world.

The night following Angela's disappearance was the strangest of my life. Everyone was quiet, numbed. Nobody cried or made a scene. We just fell apart silently inside as we stared unseeingly at our new future. We clung on to hope; someone could turn up to check on our group at any moment. Our parents were bound to note the lack of updates from us and investigate. But we were all afraid. And so, more than anything else, we clung to each other.

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I know a lot of you wanted it to be Alice next but I have a plan that I'm working from so just have faith. You'll get to see everything and find out everything you want to in time ;D

**I'm not very keen on this chapter and I've had to rush writing it due to my crappy week. But if you feel like reviewing I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks**

**Oh, and there's a pic of the river on my profile.**


	8. Hysteria

**Edward's PoV**

When we got up the next morning I had hoped that maybe we would all be able to see things in a better light. But I was wrong; everything was far worse. I came to the conclusion that perhaps some of us had been holding onto the futile hope that Eric might have turned up again after some time had passed. This was not the case.

Over breakfast it became apparent that we were all in a very fractious mood. Except Emmett of course. His reaction to recent events seemed to be simply eating even more than was usual for him.

"Emmett," Alice moaned in a long-suffering voice, "could you at least pretend that you are upset about the others?"

"I am upset about them, I just don't see why that should affect my ability to eat." He responded in a surprisingly sharp tone for him. "And besides if some people had to go then I'm glad it was them."

"Emmett!" Alice shrieked in a scandalised tone as we all gaped at him.

"No, wait I didn't mean it like that." He backtracked quickly. "What I meant was if I had to choose the three people that I would miss the least then I would probably have chosen them. Maybe not Angela but definitely the other two. I didn't mean that I was glad this happened to them or anything though."

"I can't believe you." Rosalie spat. She rose and quickly moved away from him to sit by Jasper.

"Aww, come on, Rose, you know I…" Emmett moaned before Alice cut him off.

"Oh, grow up Emmett!" she snapped.

"Please don't argue." Bella said quietly. She seemed to be the most affected by all this. I think she missed Angela. All the girls did, I think that was why they were taking it out on Emmett, poor guy. I knew what he had really meant. It had just come out badly.

"Do you think that the rest of us are in danger too?" asked Rosalie, sounding deceptively calm.

Jasper and I both answered at exactly the same moment. I said "yes" while he unexpectedly said "no". Everyone turned to look at him in shock.

He just shrugged. "We know what's happening now. What are their chances of getting any of us when we are on our guard? As long as we're careful I don't think we're in danger."

I thought this over in my head. He had a point. So far the only people who had disappeared had done so when they were on their own. Even Angela had been briefly on her own when we dragged Bella out of the river and that was when she had vanished. There was a certain logic in Jasper's argument.

"I think Jasper's right," I contributed. "If we all stick together and make sure that no one is ever completely alone then maybe we will be safe. So far they've never risked taking us when we've been with others."

"So," said Rosalie slowly, "you're saying that we have to be with someone at all times? You do realise how sick of each other we are going to get." I suppressed my irritation at her words. I knew for sure that I would definitely get sick of her after a while.

"We could split into groups, that way we can change round after a while if we need a break from each other." Suggested Bella. Everyone nodded.

"Not to be sexist but I think that none of the girls should be without one of us in their group. Just in case something does happen it'll be better that way." Demetri added. I nodded in agreement. I certainly didn't think the girls should be alone.

"Well, I'm going outside and I'm taking Jazz and Alice." Rose said haughtily.

"I'll come too." Said Emmett as he stood up eagerly.

"No, you won't." snapped Rosalie with a glare as she pulled Alice up after her by the wrist. Jasper gave Emmett a warning look and a quick shake of his head before following his sister outside.

Emmett was staring darkly into the fire that was set in the centre of the main room. I tried to think of something conciliatory to say to him but came up with nothing. Finally he stood up.

"I'm going out to find more firewood." He informed us in a dark voice that was most unlike his own.

"Don't go alone." Bella said anxiously. Emmett sighed in frustration. It sounded like he wanted nothing more than to be alone.

"I'll go with him." Demetri said quietly. He gave Emmett a sympathetic pat on the shoulder before following him outside.

Bella watched them leave with an inscrutable expression in her dark eyes.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked her quietly.

"About what Emmett said." She answered softly, her voice so low that I barely caught it.

"Which bit?"

"When he said that Heidi, Mike and Angela were the ones he would miss the least anyway. I was just wondering who out of all this lot I would miss the least." She looked up at me then, her chocolate brown eyes unhappy and almost guilty looking.

I pondered the idea, "Well I'm guessing that you would miss Rose and Jasper the most, they're practically family to you, aren't they?"

She nodded. "Yes, but I actually think that I would miss you the most." She told me shyly. I little blush lit up her cheeks.

"You won't miss me." I told her. "I won't leave your side until we are safe again. I'm not going to let anyone get either of us, I swear to you."

She smiled. "That makes me feel better." She whispered. She leant in towards me and rested her head on my shoulder as I wrapped my arms around her.

**Jasper's PoV**

"I mean how tactless can anyone be? Tell me, Alice. You're his cousin, you must understand how his mind works." Rose ranted.

Alice shook her head sadly. "I really have no idea. You can never quite weigh up Emmett. You just have to learn to forgive him and love him for all those little idiosyncrasies." She started to look hopefully at Rose towards the end of her answer.

"Well, _I'm_ certainly not going to learn to love him." My sister retorted. Alice's face fell.

"Can we talk about something else?" I asked before Rose could start off again. She shot me a resentful look. A silence fell on us. No one seemed to know of a safe topic of conversation. The only two things that I could think to talk about were the disappearances and Alice herself. Both were not appropriate.

I really didn't know what to think in regards to Alice right now. From what I had seen I could tell that she had become closer to Demetri than she had to me. That was disheartening but I had no one but myself to blame. I had held back too much.

I watched her now but all I could discern was that she was frightened and sad. I wished so deeply that I knew something consoling that I could say to her that would make her feel better but nothing came. Before I could think of anything to say Rose started off on her rant again and the opportunity was lost.

"For god's sake, would you stop talking about yourself." I yelled at her as I lost my grip on my frayed temper. Rose looked furious.

"I'm going back inside." Muttered Alice, looking uncomfortable.

I knew it was my outburst that had made her leave and I felt my anger towards Rose rise up another notch because of it. But from one look at my sister I knew that she had worked this out as well. That was the problem with being twins; we knew each other too well.

"It's not my fault if you're too chicken shit to say anything to Alice." She hissed vindictively. "You know you could've have had her if you made the effort but now it's too late and she's with Demetri. But that's your problem and don't take it out on me." And with that final parting statement she spun on her heel and flounced inside leaving me alone.

I felt my heart throb with pain. So she really was with Demetri now. Rose was right; I had missed my chance. My anger turned inwards and I lashed out at a nearby tree in fury with myself and with Demetri. This wasn't fair that he should win over me. Alice was the only girl I had had any interest in for a long time and I was to be condemned to having to watch her be with another guy. I couldn't take it.

**Emmett's PoV**

In my opinion things couldn't possibly get any worse. I had kept my spirits up throughout all the disappearances and I had been okay but now that Rose wasn't talking to me everything just seemed that much worse.

I stalked along angrily, ignoring Demetri who followed closely behind. But it was no good, I was still aware of his presence and I really wanted some privacy to wallow in my remorse. Finally it got to be too much.

"Hey, Demetri," I said as I turned to him. "Let's split up. We can collect more wood that way and neither of us is going to be in any danger, we are both fully capable of taking care of ourselves, aren't we?"

He looked undecided for a moment but then he nodded with a small smile. "We better meet up again here before we go back though or the girls will be furious with us." He pointed out. I agreed and so we parted.

It took a full twenty minutes of moping before I began to see things optimistically again and that was a record long time for me. Rose was bound to be ready to forgive me by now; after all we had to stick together in times like this.

Quite a bit of time had passed so I went back to the designated spot to meet Demetri expecting him to already be there but he wasn't. I sat down to wait.

The more I thought about it the more I liked Rosalie's reaction to what I had said. It showed that she cared about those who had vanished, or at least about Angela. It also showed her fiery side and I liked that a lot. It was hot, very hot. I imagined it must be quite fun to tease her as long as you didn't go too far. I would have to ask Jasper how far you could push her.

I glanced around again. Was someone watching me? I had that irrepressible feeling that someone was. But no, I would have heard someone approach if they were near enough to watch me. I looked at my watch. Where the hell was Demetri? Again the back of my neck prickled and I looked around sharply, feeling the beginnings of paranoia.

"Demetri?" I called out, my voice shaking slightly against my will. There was no reply. My heart started to race. I was all alone. Someone was watching me. I couldn't be the next to vanish, who knew what had happened to the others who had gone. They might have been murdered for all I knew. I couldn't die without making it up to Rosalie.

Without any remaining thought for Demetri I bolted upright and began to sprint back towards camp, adrenaline making me fly.

**Rosalie's PoV**

My anger towards Emmett died the moment I saw him race back inside with terror written plainly across his face. I had known intuitively since I first met him that Emmett was not he kind to get scared easily, or at all for that matter. But this atmosphere of paranoia and fear and waiting to be taken had gotten even to him.

Alice looked stricken when she heard that Demetri was still out there and instantly demanded that we go search for him. With a prickling of unease I realised that Jasper hadn't come back yet either after what I had so callously said to him.

We all went looking for them together. As we walked through the quiet bush in the middle of the afternoon and came across no signs of life a strange notion came to me. How could there be anyone else out here besides us? There was nowhere inhabitable for god knows how many miles. So who could be close enough to hurt us? I looked around my company. No, it couldn't be. Could it?

I jumped as I heard the crackle of twigs under someone's feet nearby. My heart jolted. I had been wrong; there was an outsider and he was here now I thought to myself hysterically. I reached out and gripped Emmett's arm as tight as I could.

Then Jasper stepped out. I nearly fainted with relief. I made some sort of relived squeak sound and threw myself into his arms. Next thing I knew I was sobbing.

"Oh god, I thought you had been taken. I was so scared and I'm so sorry for all the things I said to you before, I didn't mean any of them. I didn't want you to be taken after I had said all those stupid things. But then I heard you coming and I thought that you were the murderer and I started panicking. I can't bear this anymore, Jazz, I want to go home!" I wailed into his shoulder. He hugged me back and muttered something inconsequential.

I finally managed to get a grip on myself and I pulled back from the hug. There was a wild look in my brother's eyes that I had never seen before. There was something reckless in his demeanour now and I began to feel unnerved. I couldn't cope with this change in the person I was closest too right now. I took a step back and caught sight of his hand. It was grazed and bloody.

"What happened to your hand?" I asked unsteadily.

"Nothing." He answered while staring at his feet. Something was wrong with him. "What are we doing out here?" he asked the group in general.

Someone answered him but I wasn't listening. I was trying to reassure myself that most of what I was seeing in Jasper was just my imagination. I turned around to face the rest of my group.

"Jasper and I are going to head back to the camp now. See you all later." I grabbed Jasper's wrist and pulled him after me. He followed passively.

Once the others were well out of sight I turned and faced him.

"They're not going to find Demetri, are they?" I stated it more than asked.

"Probably not." Jasper said expressionlessly.

"What did you do?" I breathed, my stomach filling with horror, my eyes widening.

He finally looked up to meet my eyes, his gaze stony with restrained anger. "I didn't do anything." I note of passion re-entered his voice.

"Don't lie to me." I hissed. "You look like I've never seen you like before. Something's happened. And all I know is Demetri is missing and he was your rival for Alice."

His jaw dropped at my words. "What the hell do you mean, do you think _I_ did this?" his voice was rising. "Do you think that I _killed_ Demetri or something just so I could have Alice for myself? And what about the others? Do you have some fantastical motive dreamt up for why I included them on my killing spree?"

"I never said anything about them!" I shrieked back. "But it would be a perfect time for hurting someone else though wouldn't it, when everyone would think that they have just vanished like the others. I saw how angry you were earlier and I know that it was partially my fault, but I didn't think you would go this far."

"How can you think that, Rose?" he yelled in return. "You're my sister, don't you know me at all? I would never do anything like that and I'm disgusted that you think so lowly of me!"

I didn't answer. We stood there, both perfectly still except for the heavy breathing that came with anger. And then I felt my fear slowly subside. I realised exactly what I had been saying and how crazy it all was. I hung my head, tears starting in my eyes.

"I'm sorry, Jazz. I shouldn't have even thought that. I'm just so afraid. I was thinking as we walked that it makes no sense to think that it is an outsider who is taking us. I mean how could anyone be close enough to us out here in the middle of nowhere. So then I started to think that it must be one of us. And it must be, mustn't it?" I wailed. He just shrugged.

"But where were you?" I implored. "What happened to your hand?"

"I got angry." He said enigmatically. I knew he wasn't going to say anymore, and I didn't deserve his confidences right now.

"What are we going to do, Jazz? How can we trust anyone when one of them must be…" I trailed off unable to actually say it.

"We don't know that." He said in a much softer voice than he had used up till now. He could see that I didn't look convinced. "We'll just be more wary, okay?" I nodded reluctantly. He sighed and pulled me into the hug I really needed. I closed my eyes tight. I really didn't think I could bear much more of this.

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**I think I've given you a lot to chew on there ;D Any new theories on what's going on? If so please review…**


	9. Next?

**Brace yourselves; this is not a friendly little chapter. You have been warned. You'll know what I mean by the end of the chapter. But no skipping ahead!**

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Rosalie's PoV

"It was my fault, I know it was, as do you if you'd just admit it." Emmett lamented.

"Em, no one blames you. Not even Alice. You never meant for this to happen to Demetri, it's not your fault at all." I pleaded as persuasively as I could. He still didn't look convinced.

"I told him to go off on his own just because I wanted to wallow in my own misery. If I hadn't been as selfish he would still be with us now."

I bit my lip. I didn't know what to say to cheer him up. It was so uncharacteristic of Emmett to be so miserable; I couldn't bear to watch it. I wished there was something I could say that would take his mind off Demetri. It was bad enough that Jasper still wasn't speaking to me; I couldn't cope with Emmett being unhappy as well. I had always thought that he would be the one that would always be able to keep his spirits up even when the rest of us couldn't.

"Let's go for a walk," I suggested feebly. Emmett's scowl deepened. "Please." I implored. He looked at me slowly before grudgingly nodding his head. I grinned.

"It'll do us good to get away from the gloom of this place, you'll see." I told him enthusiastically. He merely nodded absently.

He was quiet as we walked and I racked my brains for a safe subject of conversation.

"What do you want to do, Emmett? Like, as a career I mean." I asked, genuinely curious.

He thought about it for a moment. "Depends," he said finally, "on whether you mean what I want to do or what I'll probably end up doing."

"Tell me both." I said encouragingly.

"Well… ideally I'd like to work in movies. Not as an actor but as a stunt guy. That would be so awesome. But I'll probably end up working in my dad's business. I can't really complain, it's a good job, it's just…"

"Not what you want." I finished for him. "You know, my parents are actors maybe they can put you in touch with some stunt groups."

His eyes lit up, "That would be fantastic." He enthused. "I'd still have to persuade my dad though." he added his smile faltering.

"He'll want whatever makes you happy, right? There's bound to be a way you can convince him."

He was nodding to himself now. "Anyway, what about you? What are your dreams, Rose? To be a world renowned super-model?" he said teasingly.

I pulled a face. "I've already done some modelling actually, smart-ass. And it's okay but I don't think that that's what I want to do with my life."

"What then?" he prompted. I hesitated.

"Promise me you won't laugh." I demanded.

He raised his eyebrows at me but duly promised to keep a straight face.

"I'd really like to be a car designer. For BMW or something." I turned to look at him now, he wasn't laughing. "That wasn't what you expected at all, was it?" I asked with a grin.

He smiled back. "Not exactly but it seems to fit somehow. Are you good with cars?"

"Oh yeah!" I said with a grin.

"What do your parents think?" he pressed. I felt myself scowl now.

"My mom freaked when I first told her but my dad was pretty understanding. My mom wanted me to be an actress like her and so she keeps trying to persuade me but I think she's given up now. I didn't get it too bad though, Jasper had a lot worse from them." I finished with a smirk.

"What does he want?" Emmett asked curiously.

"He wanted to join the army."

"Really! Actually I can picture that too, Jasper the soldier." Emmett laughed. "So what did your parents do when they heard that?"

"Panicked." I laughed. "They tried everything to entice him to stay but it didn't look like it was going to work. But then they heard about this holiday and persuaded us to go on this. Jazz still says he's going to sign up when we get back home though. I think mom and dad were hoping that he maybe might meet someone and that having a girlfriend would keep him from signing up. Not that that's ever held him back before."

"Ah, perhaps they might be in luck if Alice turns her attention to him." Emmett commented.

"Maybe that would have worked if Demetri hadn't been on the trip." I said before I caught myself. I hadn't meant to mention Demetri. Emmett's face had darkened again.

"None of this matters anyway. We're not going to get what we want in life, we're probably never going to leave this place." He said dispiritedly.

"Don't be so defeatist. Maybe we'll figure out who's doing it soon and then we'll be able to stop them." I said quickly.

"How the hell are we going to work out who is doing this? It could be anyone on the planet!" he exclaimed.

"No, listen I have a theory. The past couple of days I've been thinking everything through and I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't seem very likely that it could be an outsider getting to us. I mean, look at where we are! Who could be out here close enough to hurt us? There's no where habitable."

"So…what do you suggest is happening then?" he said slowly.

"Is it really so impossible to think that it could be one of us?" I breathed.

Emmett looked unconvinced. "Well, that leaves either your brother or your best friend or my cousins. Do you seriously think one of them would be capable of doing this?"

I flushed as I remembered my words to Jasper yesterday. "It could be one of them." I said defensively. "Or it could be one of the four who have already disappeared."

"Well in that case they must be surviving somewhere out here. Which means that if you think they could do it then it is equally likely that it is someone else out here." Emmett pointed out.

"I still think it is one of us." I muttered petulantly, refusing to be persuaded. "Any besides if it isn't one of – AAGGHHH! SNAKE!" I screamed hysterically as I caught sight of a slithery invertebrate on the path ahead. I jumped about a foot in the air and stumbled backwards, twisting my ankle before landing heavily in the dust.

"DO SOMETHING EMMETT!" I shrieked. He stared around wildly and then grabbed at a stick that lay nearby on the ground. With an arching movement of his arm he hurled the stick at the snake. It hissed angrily, I screamed again, and then it slithered away into the grass. I breathed a long, low sigh of relief. Emmett started to laugh.

"The look on your face just then!" he sniggered. I glared at him but he just carried on chortling.

"Help me get up, I think my ankle's sprained." I said holding out my hand, which he gripped and pulled me upright in one easy motion. I gasped in pain.

"Oh god, it really hurts." I moaned, tears starting in my eyes.

"Can you walk?" he asked, finally sounding concerned.

I shook my head. "No, I don't think so. Can you carry me?"

He grinned and winked at me. "Absolutely."

I rolled my eyes and allowed him to scoop me up into his arms bridle style. I would have giggled if my ankle hadn't been paining me so much.

"We're going to have to hurry." I told him worriedly. "The sun's already begun to go down and we're miles away from the camp."

"Never fear, Rosie, I shall get you home in time." Emmett said gallantly.

"You better," I muttered, "and don't call me Rosie."

We had started out on our walk at late afternoon and several hours had passed now; it was starting to go dark. I wasn't particularly keen on being stuck out here when night fell. What if we lost the path?

"Can't you hurry up, Emmett?" I snapped more irritably than I had meant to after we had been going for about 45 minutes.

"Shh." He said abruptly.

"Hey, don't shush me!"

"No, be quiet, I think I can hear something."

I strained my ears for about 30 seconds but still heard nothing. But I was starting to feel the beginnings of paranoia again.

"Emmett, seriously this is not funny- "

"Listen!" he cut in urgently.

And so I listened and there faintly in the distance I heard it. A kind of rumbling sound carrying across the still air.

"Could that be thunder?" he asked me. My heart started to beat very fast in my chest.

"No, that's a car. That is definitely a car, Emmett!"

"Are you sure?"

"Positively."

We stood completely still for a moment listening as the sound grew closer. Then Emmett moved decisively.

"Stay here. I'm going to go towards it, see if I can get in its path." He told me hurriedly. He set me down and raced off into the growing darkness.

"Emmett…" I hissed in panic but he was already gone. I stood there, on one leg, waiting for him to come back. My heart rate picked up again. What the hell was taking him so long? The sound of the car approaching stopped.

I called his name again. There was no response. A shiver ran down my spine. I could feel tears starting in my eyes.

"ROSE!" I shrieked and jumped as Emmett's huge shout shattered the still evening air.

"RUN, ROSE, RUN!" I could hear sounds of struggling coming from the direction of the shouts. I hesitated; I didn't want to leave him!

"GO, RUN, JUST GO ROSE!" Emmett's shout came again although this time it was broken and sounded as if he was struggling to get his shout out now. My fear took over. I turned on my heel and began to careen down the path. Faster and faster and faster I ran. I ignored the pain in my ankle, my fear taking precedent. I imagined unnamed adversaries on my tail and I ran yet faster still. I couldn't stop. I didn't even know if I was going the right way. I had never been so frightened in my entire life.

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Alice's PoV

I spent almost the whole of the next day on my own. I wanted to cry for Demetri but somehow the tears wouldn't come. I felt lonely. I didn't want to talk to anyone else. I didn't know what to think, what to hope for. I just replayed the last couple of days over in my mind. It didn't help.

I was sat on the wooden walkway that curved around the outside of the camp building, staring out at the setting sun. I hugged my arms around my knees and tried to keep from shivering. I think that I really wanted a hug. I wish Emmett would hurry up and come back; he was good at giving hugs.

"Can I join you?" a low voice asked from behind me. I didn't bother to turn around. I just nodded.

"Are you okay?" Jasper asked as he sat down next to me. He mirrored me in staring out at the sunset. I didn't answer for a long moment.

"Not really."

Jasper nodded. "I didn't really expect you to be." He paused then continued, "Are you frightened?"

"No more than I was yesterday. I just didn't expect Demetri to be next." I answered frankly. "I just wish that someone knew what was going on. Even if _I_ didn't know I'd be reassured if someone had some idea. But no one does. We're all just as clueless as each other."

"Not according to Rosalie." Jasper muttered darkly under his breath.

"What?" I asked turning to look at him with a puzzled expression on my face.

"My sister has got it into her head that it must be one of us who is attacking everyone. She even accused me yesterday, her own brother." He told me bitterly.

"She's just frightened. She can't seriously believe that it is one of us. Why would we do that?" I tried to reassure him.

"She's adamant that it's one of us, she probably still suspects me. That's probably why she's not here now." He said in a low angry tone.

"How could she think it was you?" I asked him perplexed.

He shrugged before answering. "She thought that I might have decided to take Demetri out of the picture."

"Why would you want that?" I pressed, shocked. He didn't answer. I wanted to push it further but I figured it would be best not to.

"What did you do to your hand?" I asked instead. I had caught sight of it resting on his knee and it was all bloody and bruised.

He pulled a face as he answered, "I hit a tree yesterday."

I couldn't help but giggle. "Why?"

"I lost my temper." He said slowly.

"Did the tree deserve it?" I giggled again.

"Probably not." He answered with the ghost of a grin.

"You should bandage it up or it's just going to get it dirty. Hang on a sec." I bounced to my feet and raced inside. In the kitchen area there was a first aid kit with some bandaging in it. I grabbed some and raced back outside to where Jasper was waiting.

"Here, give me your hand." I panted as I sat down next to him again. He obliged. I unrolled the length of bandage and began to wrap it around his hand. I was painfully aware of how fast my heart was beating at the small contact we were having. I felt strangely guilty at the effect Jasper was having on me, like I was being disloyal to Demetri. But how could I be being disloyal when we hadn't even been together. I had never made the decision of which one I felt the most for. But my pulse rate seemed to be making it blindingly clear now.

I tied the knot of the bandage and looked up to see Jasper's eyes boring into mine. My breath caught. An eerie memory swam in front of my eyes of the moment a couple of days ago by the river when Demetri and I had been this close and we had almost kissed. The tears that I had been unable to shed all day filled my eyes.

Jasper reached out and brushed my cheek with his fingertips. The tears began to choke me. A sob ripped itself from my chest. I felt myself lean forwards into Jasper's ready arms and I leant my forehead against his shoulder. My hands gripped fistfuls of his shirt tightly as if I was clinging on to save myself from drowning. I felt his strong arms wrap themselves around me and hold me close. I was sobbing into his shoulder now. His hand was gently caressing my back as he held me to him.

"Jas-" I choked, unable to get out his full name.

"Shh," he whispered, "it's okay." His grip on me tightened.

When I finally got control of myself again I raised my head to look at him. "Jasper," I breathed. He cupped my face in one hand tenderly. My eyes slid closed as I turned my face towards his hand. I felt him lean in and rest his forehead against mine. He whispered my name.

A shrill scream rent the air. We both whipped round to stare out in the direction of the sound. The scream sounded again, closer this time. Jasper leapt to his feet.

"ROSE!" he bellowed. He stood staring frantically around for his sister. Edward and Bella came racing out onto the walkway looking frantic. Then she finally came into view. Her hair was a wild tangle about her face, which was streaked with tears. She was running like her life depended on it.

Jasper threw himself off the walkway and raced out towards her. She practically catapulted herself into his arms as he reached her. She was sobbing hysterically. Jasper lifted her up into his arms and jogged back towards the rest of us. He carried her straight inside and laid her down on the couch.

"What happened, Rose? Talk to me." he pleaded, his deep voice strained with tension.

"There were noises- I thought I heard a car… Emmett went off to see what it was, and… oh god…" she broke off in a low moan and dissolved into renewed sobs. Jasper pulled her into his arms.

"What happened?" he insisted softly. She pulled herself together again, and tried to speak. After several attempts she finally got the words out.

"There were sounds like a struggle… I couldn't see anyone – it was so dark… but then Emmett started shouting, he said run, and I… ran." She began sobbing all over again.

Edward and I exchanged a look. It couldn't be, not Emmett. My big burly cousin gone? It was incomprehensible.

**Bella's PoV**

After the news of what had happened to Emmett Edward walked straight out the camp. I found him half an hour later standing about a hundred yards away from the camp building staring out into the night. His shoulders were slumped; he looked broken.

I walked slowly out to him, "Edward" I called softly as I approached. He didn't turn.

"Edward," I repeated as I drew up to him. I tentatively slipped my hand into his. He gripped it tightly. "It's okay, Edward, if you want to talk or cry or break down or anything. I'll be here. I'll take care of you."

He smiled wryly. "I'm not going to burden you with my problems, Bella."

"What if I want you to?" I whispered. He turned to look me full in the face.

"Then you're more of an angel than even I believed." He answered quietly. I reached up tentatively to touch his face.

"I'm so sorry about Emmett." I breathed.

"He'll be okay," Edward whispered back shakily, "Emmett knows how to take care of himself." I smiled weakly.

"At least you're still here with me, Bella. I think I can hold on if you're here." He continued.

Tears pricked my eyes. "Why? I'm nothing special." I whispered hoarsely. Edward shook his head.

"You are, my love," my heart flipped as he used the word 'love'.

"Edward," I breathed, but he silenced me with his lips. He kissed me so gently and sweetly I thought my heart would break. He cupped my face in both his hands and kissed me again, more deeply this time. I returned it wanting to pour all my emotion into the kiss. His lips were moving so softly over mine. I thought I might die from the bliss.

"Bella," he breathed as we broke apart. I couldn't speak. He seemed to understand. He silently took my hand and pulled me back in the direction of the camp. It was as quiet inside as it was out. The others must have already gone to bed. Edward led me into the boys' bedroom; Jasper must still be with Rose and Alice as it was deserted.

Edward pulled me over to the bed and lay down dragging me down next to him. I lay my head on his shoulder, still trying to fight tears. I felt his arms snake around me as he pulled me close.

"Bella?" he whispered again.

"Yes?" I breathed in response.

"I love you." My heart melted at his words and I clung on tighter still.

"I love you too." I whispered back.

"That's all I need." He murmured and I felt his lips touch the top of my head. "Now sleep, my angel." I closed my eyes and sleep came welcomingly. For the first time in several days I felt truly safe.

It felt like I awoke to feel the sun on my face almost as soon as I had shut my eyes. I smiled at the recollection of the night before. I reached out in the bed for him but felt only sheets. Still smiling I opened my eyes. The bed was empty but for me. I looked around the room blearily but it too was empty. I stared vacantly at the wall for a moment. And then I collapsed back to the bed, my face submerged in the pillow. Edward was not here. I knew what had happened.

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Did any of you expect that? And you got two disappearances for the price of one in this chapter.

_**And**_** longest chapter yet!**

**Anyone up for reviewing?**


	10. Dreamtime Visitations

**Thanks for the response to the last chapter; I loved it. Is it sick that I'm enjoying freaking you out? I know you all hate me for taking Emmett and Edward away but before you start sharpening your pitchforks and hunting me down I suggest you read this…**

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Alice's PoV

It took a very long time for me to go to sleep after Emmett disappeared. It took Jasper a very long time to sooth Rose and me enough for us to be able to sleep, and then we only did so on the condition that he stayed with us. And even then I struggled to drift off as my mind finally wrapped itself around the danger we were in. Finally, by focussing solely upon the rhythm of Jasper and Rosalie's breathing I fell asleep. Light was already beginning to grow outside.

BANG! I lurched into wakefulness as the door slammed open. Light was flooding the room, incapacitating my eyes. I couldn't see who had come in. Jasper swore.

"He's gone, he's gone, they've got him too!" wailed a voice from the door. It was Bella's.

"Bella, what are you talking about?" Rosalie asked groggily, as she pulled herself into an upright position.

"Edward!" Bella cried in anguish, "he's gone too."

My heart froze. No, please god, no.

Jasper was on his feet. "What happened, Bella? Are you sure he's been taken?"

"Yes," she whispered shakily, "he's not here. And he wouldn't have left me unless he was…" with another sob she threw herself from the room and collapsed on one of the couches in the living room, hiding her face in her hands.

A shudder ran through me. I felt cold, physically cold. I think I was shivering. Edward? Gone? How could he be _gone_? He was my big brother who I'd grown up playing and arguing with. Who always looked after me even when I annoyed the hell out of him. Had I really looked on him for the last time? Without even being able to say goodbye to him? Never would I be able to listen to him play the piano again or plead him into carrying my shopping bags for me.

Jasper was speaking to me. "Alice. Alice! Look at me. Are you okay? You look like you're about to faint." He seemed to be speaking to me from so far away.

"I didn't get to say goodbye." I whispered dreamily.

"Stop it, Alice. This isn't it; this isn't the end. We're going to see them all again. We're going to get out of this, Alice." He told me sternly, but his eyes belied him. They were wild with fear.

I couldn't speak. It was hard even to breathe. First my cousin. Now my brother. Who will be next? Dear god, let it be me.

Everything was a confusion of noise. Were there really only four of us left here? It had seemed such a big group when we had started out, the ten of us. It was shocking that six people could be eradicated without a trace left of them in such a short amount of time. And what crimes had we four committed that were so deserving of being the ones left so long to suffer. Oh, how I wish I could have been the first to go!

I was outside now, with no clear recollection of choosing to walk outside. Shock, that was what it was. I needed to sit down, maybe put my head between my knees for a while and then I would be better. I would be able to think rationally then. I sat down with my back against a tree and breathed some deep, steadying breaths. My head spun sickeningly. I shut my eyes and leant my head back.

Perhaps it was the shock of the situation or my lack of sleep from the night before, but I somehow managed to fall into a deep slumber out there with my back against the tree.

And I dreamt.

In the dream I walking along in one of those hedge maze things they have sometimes in the gardens of large houses. The hedges were so high that although the sky was a clear azure reminiscent of summer days in my childhood, the path itself that I walked on was shadowed and dark and eerie. I was completely alone. I floated on, serenely turning corners into identical corridors with no clear aim in my step.

Then something changed. A chill breeze swooped down the passage I was on. I looked back over my shoulder but there was nothing to see. I was aware that I was cold now. My step became a little more urgent and my speed increased. Looking up the sky had darkened fractionally.

Then I heard footsteps. I was closing in on a crossroads. When I reached them I looked into the left passage. Demetri and Angela stood there. Their faces were both expressionless but Demetri's eyes held a sad cast to them.

"How do I get out?" I heard my voice say calmly. Neither of them reacted at all. I heard someone call from the passage straight ahead of me. I turned to see Eric stood beckoning me to follow him. I looked back to the left. Demetri and Angela were no longer there.

"Where did you go?" I asked the empty air, my voice still serene. There was no response other than a disembodied sigh. My feet turned and took me off after Eric's retreating back.

I carried on floating smoothly behind him and even though he drew further and further away I never moved any faster. He turned a corner. When I reached the turning he was gone from view. This didn't seem to bother me.

I faced one of the tall hedges. I looked at the minute, intricately tangled leaves and tiny thorns adorning the twiggy branches. A gentle rumble of thunder sounded overhead from the now storm darkened sky. Thick heavy drops of rain began to fall on me. I stood looking up into the falling deluge until I was soaked and the water was dripping from my hair into my eyes. I liked how it felt. Cool, refreshing, freeing, not dry and empty like something my memory seemed to be trying to recall but I couldn't reach just now.

Then I stepped forwards and ghosted right through the hedge to the other side. From here I could see a square open space in what must be the centre of the maze. In the middle of the space was a circular stone pool with a mountain shaped sculpture in the centre of it. Sat on the very top of the stone mountain was Edward. I walked up to the rim of the pool.

"Edward." I said tranquilly. He didn't look at me. He didn't move at all for a moment. But then he opened his mouth to speak.

"Africa." He said; I shuddered with unease at the sound. He didn't speak with his voice but with Emmett's. For some reason this disturbed me greatly. "Africa." He said again, sounding even less like himself. I was shivering like crazy now, like I was freezing to death.

"Why can't you see me?" I whispered too quietly for him to hear, my voice juddering with emotion for the first time in the dream. But finally Edward looked at me now. His eyes were distant.

"They are coming," he hissed urgently. "They are coming for you next. Alice. You. Next." His voice grew rougher and harsher and hoarse as he went on. I took an involuntary step backwards.

"No one is safe anymore." Edward croaked at me. I spun round to run away but as I turned to face the hedge I had come in through I was brought to a dead stop by the sight that met my eyes.

Hanging, with nooses around their necks, from the top of the hedge were Bella, Jasper and Rosalie. All three were clearly dead as their bodies swung gently in a compelling breeze. Their eyes were shut, their faces blue. I drew in a shuddering gasp and staggered backwards unable to take my eyes of the sight of my friends.

The back of my calves hit the rim of the pool and I tumbled backwards losing my balance and plunging back first into the icy water. It submerged me completely, numbing my limbs instantly and stifling my screams. The water hadn't seemed at all deep before but I kept sinking deeper and deeper now and at head-spinning rate. My arms and legs floundered helplessly but I couldn't move upwards. I felt the water flood in through my open mouth and swamp my lungs. I choked and struggled all the more. It was so futile. I couldn't see anything; it was all black. I could feel nothing but freezing water. I couldn't even think.

My eyes opened as I gasped and sucked in huge lungfuls of air that my mind told me I had been deprived of. Slowly my surroundings caught up with me. I hadn't been drowning at all. Just a dream. It was just a horrible nightmare, nothing more.

"_Alice._"

I twisted to look over my shoulder into the surrounding bushes. I didn't see anyone, yet I could swear someone had just whispered my name.

"_Alice._"

I unsteadily got to my feet, my movements crabbed and hurried. There was no one visible but I had definitely heard my name called. I wasn't sure because the voice was so soft and faint but I thought the voice sounded masculine.

"_Alice!_"

The voice was more insistent this time. I began to panic. I jumped as I heard a twig snap from behind me.

"JASPER!" I screamed hysterically. "HELP ME!" I sprinted headlong back into the camp. I was barely inside when I ran straight into Jasper himself and threw my arms around his neck.

"Alice, what the hell happened?" his deep voice breathed in my ear as he hugged me back fiercely. Shakily, I told him about my nightmare and then about the unseen person calling my name. He looked unnerved.

"But you have no idea who it was, you're sure you didn't recognise the voice?" he persisted worriedly.

"I don't know; I was still half asleep. But I know I heard it! I know it wasn't part of the dream, Jasper, if that's what you think." I answered affirmatively.

"I believe you," he insisted, "I'm just so relieved that you managed to wake up and get back in here in time. Thank god they didn't get you." He tightened his grip on me, pulling me closer.

We were staring into each other's eyes. "Jasper," I whispered, "I know before he disappeared that I was spending a lot of time with Demetri. But that didn't mean that I'd chosen him. I would've chosen you even if he were still here. I know that now."

He didn't say anything; he just looked deep into my eyes for another long moment before his face broke into a smile. Then he leant down and kissed me pressing my body ever tighter to his. I slid my fingers through his hair as I pulled his head down towards mine. My heart was beating even faster than it had been earlier in my panic.

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Bella's PoV

Rose was sat with her arm tight around my shoulders. We were both united in our grief as we were in the exact same situation.

"What do you really think is happening?" I asked my best friend dully. She sighed softly.

"I don't know anymore. I was so certain that it must be one of us but it's so hard to believe that now. How could any of these people whom we've come to know be so cruel to us. I don't know what to think anymore. I just want Emmett back."

I nodded understanding her sentiments. "I know how you feel. But there is still something in my heart says that we were led here into a ready waiting trap. I can't get that suspicion of Eric from my mind."

"Eric?" Rose asked in surprise.

"Yeah, he unnerved me all along. And as soon as we arrived here I started to get funny feelings. And anyway, it's easier to blame him than anyone else." I told her slowly.

"If it is him and I get my hands on him I will make him regret the day this stupid sadistic idea of his ever entered his head." Rose growled menacingly.

"I'm going to bed," I murmured quietly as I slowly got to my feet. Rose nodded sympathetically and gave my hand a squeeze.

I wandered dreamily into the bedroom and sunk down on a bed at random. I stared unseeingly at the walls. Somewhere in the back of my mind I was grateful that I felt only numbness. It was preferable.

I didn't expect to but I managed to fall asleep. I didn't dream but when I was awoken by the sound of Edward's voice as he shook my arm I thought it was a dream.

"Bella, wake up, quickly now," he was hissing. I opened by eyes and froze.

"Am I dreaming?" I breathed.

"No, Bella, you're not, I'm really here. But listen quickly now we haven't much time." He whispered as fast as he could.

"Edward, what's going on? How come you're here? Are you okay?" I clung onto his shirt tightly, afraid to let him go.

"I don't have enough time to answer all that, Bella. They'll already know I've gone and I'm going to have to run in a minute or they'll get all of you." He hissed rapidly. I opened my mouth to ask who he meant but he covered my mouth with his hand. "There isn't time, Bella. But we're okay, we're all alive so don't worry. But they're coming for you too and you can't let them get you. Grab some food and the others and run, Bella. You have to run as far as you can. Get far away from here and maybe they won't be able to get you. Please do that for me, Bella."

I nodded slowly and relief coursed through his eyes. He grabbed my face and kissed me passionately. A rumble that sounded like a large car approaching quickly sounded in the distance. I gasped and Edward whipped around to stare in that direction.

"Now, Bella. You have to go now. Grab the others and go." I nodded helplessly.

"Can't you come?" I implored softly. He shook his head.

"I have to draw them away or they'll get you. Now go!"

I scrambled across the room to the door and out into the living room with Edward close behind me. As I reached the door to the other bedroom Edward suddenly caught my hand.

"Trust no one, Bella. No matter who you see out there, don't trust them."

I shivered at his words but nodded. "I love you," I said desperately. He smiled gently. "I love you too." He replied before kissing me briefly again and then vanishing outside into the weighty blackness. A small sob escaped my lips before I threw myself into the bedroom and started screaming at the others.

It took a painfully long time to get them up and make them understand the danger we were in right now. Alice kept screeching at me to tell her if Edward was really okay. Rose was little better but Jasper stayed calm as always and ran to the kitchen to fill a bag with food.

And then we were running. We could still hear the sound of the car in the distance and we didn't dare make any sound that might give us away. It was so dark we were completely blind. We stumbled and tripped and clung to each other's arms for support. We were all far to frightened even to cry.

We ran and ran and ran all through the night.

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Maybe this answers a few of your questions. Or maybe not.

**Anyways, I really enjoyed writing this chapter, especially the dream. I really want to know how that read to all of you. And what you make of Edward's return and warning.**

**Review!**


	11. Unknown

**I've just made a tiny change to the last chapter. I meant to say that the voice Alice heard after her dream sounded male not female. Sorry about that.**

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Rosalie's PoV

"Where in god's name are we now?"

"Shut up and just keep running!"

"It's starting to get light now, we've run long enough!"

"He said to keep running, we can't stop!"

"I'm exhausted," I gasped breathlessly, "I couldn't run any more even if they were right on our tails. I have to rest." Bella and Alice stopped bickering and came to a standstill though Bella still looked like she wanted to keep going. We all turned to Jasper waiting for a decision from him.

"We need to rest, I think we've covered enough distance for now. Let's just keep going until we find somewhere more sheltered where we can sleep for a while." He suggested reasonably.

"Thank god." I panted to myself before following Jasper as he set off through the bushes again, thankfully walking this time not running. I'd never felt exhaustion like this. My stomach felt queasy and I was starvingly hungry. My ankle was agony from the sprain I got when I saw the snake. I was so tired that I could even think of Emmett without wanting to cry. Crying would require too much energy that I had long ago used up.

We had been running all night long. The first greyish light of pre-dawn was beginning to colour the sky now. I was immensely grateful to it; the encompassing blackness had just made everything that bit more frightening. I had been waiting so long for this dawn, it seemed to have been forever in coming. All my muscles ached and my head pounded. I wouldn't have been surprised if I had simply collapsed. I was quite fit really and I had been a fairly good runner at school but this had been beyond what I thought I would ever be asked of me. My chest was sore from all the rasping breaths that had been wrenched out of me as I pounded mindlessly onwards.

I glanced over my shoulder at Bella and Alice. Alice's face was a colourless, exhausted grey and her eyes stared wide and blank. Her arm was bleeding from a small cut. I remembered running through a close grown section of thorny bushes at one point, she must have got it then. Bella didn't look much better off. Her eyes were shadowed and her shoulders drooped. Her knees were bloody; she must have tripped at some point. She always tripped.

It was difficult to keep up with Jasper and the three of us started to lag behind. He kept having to stop to wait up for us. I noticed his cheek was bleeding but I don't think he'd realised. Even he looked tired, which was the first time I had ever seen him be so.

"Look!" Bella whispered softly after about another hour's walking. She was pointing to the east. A thin sliver of red sun was just visible above the horizon. The three of us stopped to see it ascend magisterially into the sky. As I watched the huge burning disk come into view I felt a huge weight of gravity come down upon me. We were so small. Could what had happened to us out here really matter so little under such a huge sun? Yet conversely and simultaneously I also felt a strange sense of hope and comfort at the sight of the sun. I felt shivery and feverish. Someone had to find us.

I heard Jasper call out to us but my sluggish brain didn't register what he said. I was leaning on Bella's shoulder. I felt his hand close over mine and he pulled me slowly around.

"Come on," he said to me gently, "I've found something." Conscientiously he led us back through the bushes. After about a hundred yards we emerged into an open space. In the clearing were what looked like ruins. You could see the skeletons of buildings but they were all clearly ancient, from some forgotten time and people. They were a godsend to us.

Alice sighed in relief and walked right into the centre of the ruins and slid down with her back to a wall. She closed her eyes and leant her head back peacefully.

"Do you think it's safe?" Bella asked Jasper quietly.

He nodded. "They look like they've stood long enough, I don't think they're about to collapse." He responded wearily running his gaze over the stone structures.

"Can we sleep here?" I asked as I went to sit by Alice.

"I don't care. I am regardless," Alice grumbled.

I leant my head back against the wall and closed my eyes too. I wondered for a moment if it would be possible for me to sleep. But then my thoughts ceased as oblivion claimed me.

* * *

When I woke up the sun was much higher in the sky. I felt unbelievably stiff and sore all over. I didn't dare try and stand up. Alice was asleep beside me with her head resting on Bella's shoulder who was also dead to the world.

I glanced around and caught sight of my brother sat at the edge of the ruins with his back to the rest of us. Gingerly I pushed myself to my feet, wincing all the while, and made my way ponderously towards him.

He glanced up at me as I approached and his eyes were beleaguered with stress. I sat down next to him.

"Please don't tell me that you haven't slept at all since we got here." I stated warningly.

He grimaced. "Someone had to keep watch." He told me. I rolled my eyes in exasperation.

"Jasper…" I began but he cut me off.

"Don't tell me that I should have slept when we both know how grateful you really are that I was looking out all this time. You wouldn't have slept at all if you hadn't known deep down all along that I would be keeping watch."

I was about to argue when the sounds of someone stirring broke into our conversation. We turned to see Alice sitting up.

"Well, we're all waking now so you can go sleep." I said to him triumphantly. He looked about to protest so I hit him on the arm. "Do it." I growled. He sighed in defeat and got up to move into a more separate part of the ruins.

Alice came over to me. "Where's Jasper going?" she asked.

"To sleep." I answered as I stifled a yawn myself. I still felt knackered.

Alice stared after him for a second before saying with a smile, "Chivalrous fool, he should have slept. Nothing would have happened. Do you still feel like you've been deprived of sleep for several weeks or is that just me?"

"Worse. I feel as I haven't slept in weeks and like I'm bruised and strained all over with weights tied to all my muscles _and _I feel like I've been starved." I complained to her. "And that's not even considering how scared I am right now."

"Let's wake Bella and have some breakfast. Jasper grabbed some food, didn't he?" Alice suggested sympathetically. I acquiesced and we set to.

The food wasn't much really and it was apparent to all of us that we would have to ration it but we put together something sufficient for now. When we finished we were all still hungry. Jasper was still sleeping; we had set aside some food for when he woke up.

Bella hadn't spoken since we woke her.

"How are you doing?" I asked her gently. She merely shook her head and didn't speak.

"What's happening?" Alice asked in a dull voice to no one in particular.

"I wish I knew." I breathed. Alice glanced up at me more assertively.

"Well, what do we know for sure? We know now that someone is taking us one by one but we still don't know why. We also know now that they don't seem to be harming us. Edward said everyone was fine, right?" she said turning to Bella who didn't respond.

"Edward was okay anyway," Alice continued after an awkward pause. A relieved look passed across her face as she said that. "And so I think we can assume that the others are all right as well. _But_… we have no idea as to who 'they' are." She finished lamely.

"Yes, we do." Bella said hoarsely, speaking for the first time. "Edward told me not to trust anyone I saw no matter who it was. I don't know for sure but the way he said it made me feel like he was warning me against trusting someone who I would normally trust. That makes me think that it's someone we know."

There was a heavy silence after her words.

"I suspected all along that it was one of us but to have it confirmed like this… I can't believe any of us could do that. It's so horrible." I whispered breathily.

"We don't know it was one of our group," Alice put in, "we just suspect that it is someone we know. That could be anyone not just someone off this trip."

"Who would we all have in common?" I challenged.

"It doesn't need to be someone we all have in common." She argued. "Edward only said this to Bella, it might be someone _she_ knows."

"But then how would Edward know that Bella knows him?"

"Stop it, guys." Bella said wearily and we subsided.

"What about the order we were taken in. I don't know about you but I feel like it was selected. I know it looks like it was random but I have this feeling that it was planned who would go when." I theorised. Alice looked thoughtful.

"Now you mention it, it does seem more than just opportunism. Several times they've had the chance to take any of us but we haven't gone until specific times. It really doesn't seem random, does it? I mean, surely it would have been easier for them to take Bella instead of Edward but they didn't."

"Maybe they wanted to take out more of the boys first because they'd be able to put up more of a fight, generally, than we could. As soon as they got their suspicions up, anyway." I added.

"But then that doesn't explain why they took Demetri when they did. They could just as easily have had Emmett then instead and Emmett would have been more of a threat to them than Demetri because of his size and strength. But they _didn't_ take him they took Demetri."

I couldn't keep myself from pulling a bit of a face at this. My key theory kind of gave an explanation for this but I didn't think Alice would like it.

She caught my look anyway. "What?" she demanded.

I grimaced again. "It's just that I've put a lot of thought into who it could be if it is one of us and the most likely one I can think of is Demetri. No, don't get mad!" I said in alarm as Alice's face darkened. "It's just that we know nothing about him. I discounted Jasper and Bella because I've known them all my life and I know that they're not capable of doing this. I couldn't believe it of you, Emmett or Edward either because, well, I can't help but trust Emmett, he seems too genuine. And now I can see how much this is scaring you so it can't be you and you'd know if it was Edward. Angela is too nice and sweet to be this sadistic. Mike is too weak and no one is that good an actor to convincingly be that pathetic if they're not. And Heidi is too much of a spoilt brat to see any gain in all the hard work this would take."

"That doesn't make it Demetri." Alice said stubbornly. "The others _could_ be acting, we don't know that they're not."

"I know. It's just that of us all Demetri is the only one I can think of being capable of being so calculating and cold-blooded deep down."

"It wasn't him." Alice told me softly, "I know that it wasn't him. You have to trust that."

We were silent for a long time after this. The sun slowly traversed the sky overhead. Jasper joined us after a while but no one wanted to discuss any more theories. When evening fell we all agreed to take it in turns to keep watch as the others slept. I volunteered to take the first one.

"If you hear or see anything or even just get a bad feeling about anything you wake me up straight away." Jasper instructed me seriously.

"I know, Jazz, calm down." I grumbled. "I'm not stupid."

He nodded and gave me a hug before walking over to where Alice and Bella were settling down to sleep. I watched him pull Alice into his arms as he lay down beside her. She curled up against his chest. _Well, at least someone's got something good out of all this, _I thought as I watched them.

I sat myself down on a comfortable looking rock and prepared myself mentally for the hours ahead of me until I could wake Bella. I just had to be careful to keep my head and not start jumping at every shadow, and I would be okay.

What I didn't account for was my own exhaustion. The more time that passed the harder it was for me to keep my eyes open. My head felt heavy and I kept finding myself nodding off. I shifted into a more uncomfortable position in order to try and keep myself alert.

I heard a snap and my head shot up. Was someone walking nearby? My heart began to race. There was a soft scraping sound coming from a few feet away. _Calm down, _I thought to myself, _it's probably just an animal. _The sound was still continuing though and I felt panic building in my chest. Another crunch broke the air and I jumped even more. _Right, this is too much I'm getting Jasper._

I got to my feet as quietly as I could. I was creeping back towards the sleeping area of our makeshift camp when my foot hit something that rolled slightly on the ground. I froze. _What the hell? There was nothing here before when the sun went down. _Tentatively I crouched down and felt around with outstretched fingers until they brushed the mysterious object. I picked it up. It was long and round and… plastic?

It was too dark to see what it was so I turned it over and over in my hands exploring its every surface, trying to discern what it was. Then it clicked and light flooded the ground around me. It was a flashlight! _How could this possibly have got here? Oh my god, those sounds must have really been someone here and they dropped this. There's someone here!_

I struggled to my feet as quickly as I could and shone the flashlight about the surrounding area, looking for the anonymous owner of it. There was no one in sight. But something on the ground caught my eye. I walked slowly over to the patch of earth in question. There was a message traced into the dusty ground. It read:

_Do not be scared_

_You have a friend_

_I will help you_

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There is a pic of the ruins on my profile if you're interested.

**_And_ every reviewer will get a sneak hint about the next chapter!**


	12. Them

**Jasper's PoV**

"Wake up! You have to see this! Get up!"

My sister's voice jarred through my sleep, dragging me back to consciousness with painful abruptness. Her words were worrying but she didn't sound scared, she sounded excited. I opened my eyes but immediately had to shut them again as I was brutally blinded.

"Shit Rose, don't blind me!" I exclaimed as I pulled myself into a sitting position, shielding my eyes with my arm.

"What's going on?" Alice asked groggily from beside me.

"Come look at this." Was all Rose said. She grabbed my arm and Bella's and pulled us to our feet and away through the ruins. I kept a tight grip on Alice's hand as we walked. I felt a lot more paranoid in the dark when it was that much harder to keep an eye on the all the girls at once.

"Where did you get that flashlight?" I asked Rose as I realised what she had been wielding in our eyes.

"It was over here on the ground." She replied.

"What!" I yelled coming to a stop. "It wasn't there before. Someone must have been here! We need to move."

"No! It's okay, look!" Rose said hastily. She was pointing at the ground a few feet away. Then I saw it.

_Do not be scared_

_You have a friend_

_I will help you_

"Jesus." I whispered. Alice's hand tightened on mine.

"Friend?" Bella murmured. "Isn't that basically what Edward told us to beware of?"

Rose's face fell slightly. "I hadn't thought of that. God, I really thought this might be salvation for us."

"It might still be." Alice said slowly. "Wait a second and let me think this through." She paused. "It sounded like Edward was warning us against someone we already knew and whom we would normally trust. But if the person who wrote this message was someone we knew then why wouldn't they just come and talk to us rather than leaving this."

"So… you're saying that whoever left this message was someone we don't know but who is trying to help us anyway?" I qualified. Alice nodded.

"She's got a point." Bella conceded.

"Unless they knew what Edward told us and they were working with our suspicions in mind." Rose added.

"How could they know what Edward told us? They weren't anywhere near close enough to hear us then." Bella argued.

"Unless they got it out of him." I said. There was an ominous silence.

"Please let this be genuine and not a trap." Rose breathed to herself.

"It doesn't matter for now." I told the others. "Whoever it was hasn't given us instructions or anything so we don't need to decide whether or not to trust it just yet. We can just carry on as we were for now." The others were nodding.

"Get some sleep, Rose. I'll take over now." Bella said gently. She took the flashlight and headed over to the rock that Rose had been seated on earlier. The rest of us went to lie down again.

As we lay down together Alice turned to me.

"Do you think it was someone we can trust?" she asked me quietly.

I hesitated before I answered, thinking carefully over everything. "My gut instinct says it was someone we can trust. I don't think 'they' know what Edward told us, whoever 'they' are. This doesn't _seem_ like a trap to me. But either way I'm not going to trust it."

Alice nodded thoughtfully. "I agree." She whispered finally. I lowered my head and kissed her gently on the lips before I settled back to sleep again.

* * *

The sun was up when I woke again. I felt a lot better for having had even the interrupted sleep I'd had. I hoped the girls had perked up a bit too for today we had some more walking to do.

Over 'breakfast' I informed them, "Today we're going to have to trek out for a bit and find somewhere where we can get fresh water. Our supply is already almost run out and we can't survive out here without any."

"Crap," Rose muttered dully.

"We're all going together, right? I don't think we should separate from each other at all." Alice said tensely.

"No, we're keeping as a group. That's the safest way." I reassured her. "And we probably won't have to go far, we just need to find a stream."

In reality several hours passed with no sign of water. This was really not what I had been hoping for and the girls' spirits started to drop. I thought about turning back but we really needed the water. It was at the point when I was seriously considering giving in when something caught my eye. It was a glint of sunlight that, unless I was very much mistaken, came from sunlight reflected off water.

I made an immediate beeline in that direction. And there it was, better than anything we could have hoped for. A lake.

"Oh my god, am I seeing things or are we stood on the edge of a huge lake, guys?" Bella said in an awed voice.

I nodded numbly as relief washed through me. Then Alice suddenly burst out in giggles. I turned to her just in time to see her kick off her shoes and throw herself headlong into the water, laughing maniacally. I glanced at Rose who just shrugged and followed Alice's lead, grabbing Bella's hand as she went. I couldn't resist either, the water looked heavenly after two days living in a permanent state of dusty, dry, sand filled clothes. I pulled off my shirt and kicked my shoes off and dived straight into the water. It was the most refreshing feeling in the world.

"I never want to leave this lake." Sighed Rose happily as she treaded water a little way out.

"You'll probably drown then." I said laughingly as I splashed at her gently. Alice giggled and wrapped her arms around my neck from behind, resting on my shoulders.

"I'd forgotten how much I love swimming." Bella called back to us as she struck out along the perimeter of the lake.

"I wish the others were still here with us." Alice murmured softly in my ear. I twisted round and pulled her into my arms.

"We'll see them again, Alice. I swear it."

Her dark eyes were filled with sorrow. She didn't believe me, I knew.

"AGH! SHIT GUYS HELP ME!" Bella's voice screeched out across the water. I twisted round hurriedly expecting to see her being attacked by faceless assailants. Instead I saw her struggling in a patch of weedy grass which she seemed to have got herself tangled in. I couldn't help but laugh, partly out of sheer relief.

"Ha ha. Come on." I said to Alice as I kicked out in Bella's direction. Rose was already halfway to her.

When I reached her I had to start laughing again. The disgruntled look on her face was priceless. Rose was laughing her head off.

"Do you mind helping me or are you both just going to float there laughing at my misfortune. My foot's stuck." Bella snapped at us.

Barely managing to contain my mirth I ducked under the water and began to pull Bella's foot free from the mess of plant life. It didn't take me long to get her out. God knows how she managed to get herself caught up in it in the first place.

"You always manage to get yourself into some stupid situation Bells, don't you?" Rose was laughing when I resurfaced.

"Okay?" I asked Bella, desperately trying to keep a straight face.

"I'm fine." She snapped grumpily at me.

"What, no gratitude? I save you from being tangled up in water weeds for the rest of your life and this is all the thanks I get?" I asked her mock-indignantly unable to completely subdue my laughter.

Bella was about to respond when another scream broke the air. This time Alice's. And this one was genuinely terror filled.

I spun round horrified. I thought she had been behind me the whole time.

"ALICE!" I shouted as I began to swim back to where we had been before as fast as I could. As I drew closer I could see that there was no one in sight.

"ALICE!" I yelled again as I looked round wildly. There was no response. I staggered up onto the bank. Alice's shoes were still where she had left them. I pulled my own shoes back on and started to run. I was still yelling Alice's name. I could hear Rosalie screaming mine from somewhere behind me but I ignored her. They couldn't have taken Alice, please not Alice.

I felt someone's hands grab my arm and I whipped round ready to attack whoever it was. But it was just Rose. She looked terrified.

"Jasper, please you have to stop. You can't run after her, we don't even know in which direction they went," she pleaded with me.

"They can't take her. I can't let them take her. I have to go." I wrenched myself free from her grip and tried to run again but she pulled me back.

"Don't leave me!" she cried out, her voice breaking. There were tears coursing down her face now. That finally brought me back to my senses. I couldn't run. Alice was gone, Rose was right I didn't have any idea which way to go after her anyway. I was going to have to stay and look after Rose and Bella. I had never wanted to do anything less.

Bella had caught up with us. She had my shirt in her hands. She didn't say anything just handed it to me wordlessly.

"Let's go home." Rose said shakily.

"You mean the ruins? You can hardly call that home. We have no home anymore." I said harshly. Rose just closed her eyes for a moment, tears still leaking through her lashes. And then she set off walking, pulling me with her.

We walked in silence. I was so angry I didn't dare speak. I knew I would end up taking it out on Rose and she really didn't need that right now. Bella just looked defeated. We were defeated really. It was only a matter of time before we were all taken. There was nowhere we could run, nowhere to hide. It was just a waiting game. We just didn't know what we were waiting for. Death or something else?

Rose came to an abrupt stop.

"What is it?" I asked her, my voice low and rough. She pointed straight ahead.

There about a hundred feet away stood a lion. It seemed far bigger than I had expected one to be, heavy and dominating with a huge russet mane. It was simply stood there staring at us.

"Shit." I breathed. If it went for us now we were all dead. I stepped carefully in front of the girls attempting to block them from its view. I'd prefer it to get me rather than them.

"It's beautiful." Bella murmured.

"It's going to kill us." I hissed back at her. My heart was pounding. Bella stepped forwards until she stood at my shoulder.

"You know, I don't think it is." She whispered in an awed voice.

Then it roared. I winced. The sound it created was huge but strangely emotive. It continued to roar, tossing its great head back. Then an echoing silence fell and it turned away.

"Told you." Bella murmured. "It's always the lionesses that do all the hunting and killing anyway." She told me confidently.

I shivered. "That was weird." I said. I turned to walk away again but my sister wasn't stood beside me anymore. She wasn't anywhere near me. I slowly closed my eyes. I couldn't take this anymore. My sister.

"Rose?" Bella whispered vulnerably. Of course no one answered.

Opening my eyes again I saw the lion had stopped again, with its head turned to stare back at us. Its eyes looked so intelligent, so knowing. It must have seen what had happened to Rose; perhaps that was why it had roared. If only it could speak it would tell us everything we wanted to know.

**Alice's PoV**

My head was pounding sickeningly. I could feel the ground beneath me jerking and rolling. I was moving. I realised I was lying on the floor of a car not the ground. I could hear the sound of an engine.

Slowly, gingerly, I opened my eyes and looked up into a pair of familiar dark ones.

"Demetri?" I whispered hoarsely. He nodded solemnly. "What's going on?" I asked him, my throat still raw from screaming.

"I'm so sorry," he told me, "I never wanted any of this to happen. I've tried so hard to have you spared."

"What are you talking about?" I asked as my brow creased into a frown. My head hurt so much.

"It's all my fault. All of this happened because of me. I'm so sorry." He whispered brokenly.

"I don't understand. Why is this your fault? And why is _she_ working with them? She was supposed to be one of us."

Demetri looked torn. "I don't know. I knew there was something wrong about her all along but I don't know why she would want to do this."

"And you? Where do you come into all this? How come you're here?" I asked again.

He was about to respond when the jeep came to a stop. He looked up fearfully. The door was opened by a black-haired man. He grabbed Demetri's arm and pulled him out.

"Come on, son, you're going to travel up front with me from now on." he said in a low voice. He slammed the door shut viciously behind them, leaving me alone and confused.

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Anybody know who the black haired man is? And how is Demetri involved? Who is the mysterious 'she'?

**IMPORTANT: I have to tell you that I am going on holiday on Friday and I will be away for two week during which I will have no internet connection, therefore there will be no updates. I am very sorry about that and I feel so guilty. So I am going to get as many chapters up this week as possible. I hope to get two more chapters up before Friday because then I will be at the end of what I think of as 'Part 1'. And they are going to be two very cool chapters if I do say so myself!**

**REVIEW!!**


	13. Left All Alone

**Bella's PoV**

"Right, we need to stay here. We keep together at all times." Jasper instructed me as he paced wildly about the ruins.

"That won't help. They got Rose when she was right behind us, it doesn't make a difference where we are, they'll get us anyway." I said tensely.

Jasper fell silent but he kept on pacing about restlessly. Then he finally became still. "Do we even want to remain uncaught?" he said distantly. I looked up at him. His face looked so strained.

"I've hoped I would be next ever since Edward was taken. But every time it's someone else and I'm left behind. I just kept praying that I wouldn't be the last one. That I wouldn't end up being left on my own. And now I probably will be." I told him softly.

Jasper smiled sadly. "If they come soon, I'll tell them to take you." He promised gently. I chuckled humourlessly.

"Somehow I don't think they are going to be that accommodating." I said wryly. "How likely do you think it is that all this is just some elaborate hoax? Or twisted reality TV show or something?"

"If that's the case then I am going to have something to say to whoever's bright idea it was. But somehow I doubt it. There's nowhere for them to set up the camera equipment for one thing." He answered miserably. He lay down on the hard earth and started to stare up at the endless blue sky above.

"Maybe they'll take us both together. It seems like that's what they did with Alice and Rose." I suggested hopefully. Jasper closed his eyes in obvious pain at the mention of his sister and girlfriend.

"How long do you think we'll have to wait before they come for us?" he asked in a raw voice.

"It shouldn't be long. It's never more than a couple of days at most and I think they've been getting more frequent as well." I told him. I turned and walked to the edge of the ruins where a tall bush was growing. I ran my hands over the prickly stems feeling them catch against my palm. I felt strangely dreamy almost like I was having an out of body experience.

My mind travelled back to Edward. I'd tried not to really think about him over the past few days, I wanted to save myself from the pain. But I might as well give in now. I would be with him again soon after all. If I was lucky.

I wondered what might have happened if this trip had gone as planned. The way I had felt for Edward was unlike anything I had ever felt before. Who knows what could have developed between us if we hadn't been separated so brutally. Would we have fallen in love? Had we already been in love when he was taken? We had told each other that it was love. It sure had felt that way.

"Jasper, do you think that you're in love with Alice?" I asked without turning. There was no response. Stupidly I thought he might be asleep and I turned around expecting to see him still lying there on the ground. He was not. The ground was bare with no sign that anyone had ever laid there at all. If I hadn't been so sure of my own memories I might have gone mad and thought that I had imagined everything and that I had been alone all along.

But that wasn't true! The others had been here and they'd been taken. Taken by someone who should have taken me. But they hadn't! They had left me behind again! What was it? That I wasn't good enough for them? Or was it just that they wanted to torture me all the more? Why?

My nerves finally could take no more and snapped.

"WHERE ARE YOU? TAKE ME! I'M HERE! TAKE ME NOW!" I screamed hysterically at the sky. Everything was silent but for me.

"TAKE ME!" I shrieked. "I WANT TO GO NOW! DON'T LEAVE ME HERE ALONE!" My voice choked and broke on the last words. I fell down, my knees slamming into the ground. Tears began to stream down my face.

"Don't leave me here alone," I whispered brokenly. It was so quiet, the air only broken by the sound of my sobs. And when they finally subsided there was nothing at all. I lay there collapsed on the ground, breathing shakily. It took me a while to realise that I was lying there waiting. Waiting for them to return. Waiting for myself to fade away.

**1 day later**

That first night alone nearly caused me to lose my sanity. I started to shout randomly into the night whenever I thought I heard a sound. I didn't sleep at all I just sat there hugging my arms around myself and jumping at imagined noises.

When the night ended at last I was shivering uncontrollably. I managed to eat some food at dawn but I threw it up again not long after. The fear was unbearable. I had thought that I wasn't afraid of being taken, that I wanted it. But this waiting was tearing me apart. Please, god let them come today.

**2 days later**

I managed to sleep on the second night. Briefly. I still couldn't eat. What was taking them so long? I thought perhaps they might be more likely to take me if I left the camp so I went for a walk around the surrounding area. I walked for an hour, then another, then another. And then I lost count. After a while I came back because I was so hungry but as soon as I returned my appetite left me again. Night fell and they still hadn't come.

**3 days later…**

The third day passed in the same way. By the time night fell I had come to the most terrifying conclusion. They weren't coming for me. Ever. They weren't interested in me. Why would they be? I was just the daughter of a police chief; I wasn't the heir to some huge, fabulous fortune like all the others. That was why we had been targeted. It seemed so obvious now. I was worthless to them.

That left me only two choices. I could stay put here and slowly starve to death. Or I could leave. I could go looking for them. Walk straight into the arms of danger. If I found them maybe I would be able to help break out my friends. Or they might see me and lock me up too. Either outcome was preferable.

Or even if I didn't find them then it was better than staying put here going mad with solitude. If I left I might even be able to find my way back to civilisation. And then I would be able to tell people what had happened and get help for my friends. They were counting on me now as the only one left free. I had to do something.

Even though night was falling I set off out. First I would head back to the camp. Once I had found that again I could look for clues or some sign of which way to go and go on from there. I had to find them.

**Jasper's PoV**

I lay there in the ruins feeling the sun beat down on my exposed skin, trying no to think about anything. I could hear Bella wandering about nearby so I knew she was still here. I listened as she paced aimlessly to the edge of the ruins. She's stopped talking a while ago leaving me to my thoughts.

A sluggish feeling had overtaken me, probably my disrupted sleep patterns catching up with me. I closed my eyes lazily, letting my mind stop working. I couldn't bear being conscious anymore.

A crunch sounded to my left and I opened my eyes, not really registering what I had heard. Slowly I rolled my head to the left and I saw who I had least expected to see stood there staring at me. My jaw dropped. She slowly raised her finger to her lips and silently shushed me. Her hair was matted and her appearance ragged. I sat up slowly.

Angela raised her left hand and beckoned me towards her. I rose warily to my feet and walked towards her.

"Angela, what the hell is going on? How are you here?" I breathed as soon as I neared her. She stared up at me with a tragic look in her eyes. Then as quick as lightning she brought up her right hand and plunged the needle she clutched in it straight into my neck. I staggered backwards in shock as the paralysing venom spread through me, unable even to make a sound. Then I dropped like a stone, consciousness leaving me but in a way I would never have wished.

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I awoke blindly, aware that I was lying in a vehicle of some kind. I was blindfolded. I tried to sit up but my hands were tied behind my back and it was difficult to propel myself up due to the motion of the vehicle.

I let my head thump back onto the floor. _Poor Bella, _I thought, _she was praying so hard that she wouldn't be the last one left. I've really let her down. How stupid could I be to trust Angela after we all swore repeatedly that we wouldn't trust anyone? I'm such an idiot. But of all the people to be on their side, I'd never have expected it to be Angela._

The car ground to a halt. I struggled upright again as I heard the door being pulled open. Rough hands grabbed me by the arms and pulled me out. I stumbled slightly on my cramped leg muscles before I found my footing.

I heard Angela's voice ring out from somewhere to my right. "You have them all now. Let me see him." _What did she mean they had us all, what about Bella?_

One of the men holding me started to snicker. "I don't think so, _Angie._" He responded, sneering her name. Anger began to course through me at the betrayal. How could she do this to us? She must have been working for them all along. She'd just been pretending to be scared and confused like the rest of us when really she had been picking us of herself! The bitch! When I thought about the horror that we had gone through during those last few days in the ruins; the empty horrified look in Alice's eyes, Rose's tears, Bella's fear of being left alone, I felt I could kill Angela with my own bare hands.

I was dragged along through a doorway and pushed down a flight of steps. There was a pause while the man leading me fumbled at a door. Then I was pushed inside and the door was slammed shut behind me.

I stood for a split second disoriented in the silence until it was broken with a familiar shriek.

"JASPER!" the voice was unmistakeably Alice's. I felt her fly into me knocking me back into the door. There was a great confusion of clamouring voices all around me now. Alice roughly pulled the blindfold off me her nails grazing my cheek. Then she grabbed my face and kissed me passionately.

"Are you okay?" I gasped when we broke apart. She nodded tearfully. "Could someone untie my hands please." I added; the ropes were still cutting into my skin.

Edward quickly stepped forward and freed me. "Bella?" he asked quietly.

I shook my head, "They didn't take her." A pained look crossed through Edward's eyes.

"I feared they wouldn't," he said softly. "They're kidnapping us for ransom so she isn't much use to them." A shiver passed through me again.

"They can't just leave her out there." Rose whispered horrified. No one said anything.

I glanced around the collected faces about me. Edward stood beside me looking pale and worn. Emmett was stood a few feet away with his arms wrapped protectively around Rose, who's eyes were fixed on my face. Heidi was stood towards the back of the room looking strange with her hair cropped unevenly to her chin. She was barely recognisable as the self-assured girl I remembered. Mike was sat in a corner; his arms hugged around his legs, looking like a little lost child. All of us seemed so affected that we looked like different people. I was frightened even to see my own reflection; afraid to see the same dead eyes stare back at me that looked out from all the others faces. The only ones missing were Angela and Demetri.

I looked down into Alice's face as she hugged me around the waist. _Her_ eyes were different. All I could see in them was love.

"You promised me that we'd see everyone else again and that we'd get out of this okay. And I believe you now. I don't know why but I know we're going to be okay. Eventually." She whispered to me. I smiled sadly at her. I wished I believed my own promises.

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So the 'she' was Angela! Most of you went for Heidi. I'm still open for theories on the black-haired man, some of you are close but no one's got it completely yet! And does anyone have any ideas on why Angela is evil?

**I think you'll like the next chapter; it answers a few things… I hope to have it up tomorrow if all goes well. I have a busy night ahead of me! lol**

**PLEASE REVIEW!!**


	14. Ensnared, on the Edge of Reason

**Bella's PoV**

I had arrived back at the camp by midday after walking ceaselessly all night and all morning. I didn't have the energy to run as I had when we'd fled from it after Edward's warning. I also had to double back and change course a few times because I wasn't always sure if I were going in the right direction.

The kitchen at the camp was still stocked with plenty of food and the taps had running water. What was more the showers still worked. It was bliss. For a splendid half hour I managed to turn by mind away from everything that had happened as I washed and ate. But I couldn't keep that up for long. The silence pressed down on me oppressively at all times. It was so lonely.

Luck seemed to be on my side though. For after I'd showered I scouted round outside to see if I could find anything of interest. And I did. Tyre tracks. They came almost right up to the camp and then doubled back the way they had come. I deduced that they must be from the night Edward returned; we'd heard a car coming. When they got Edward again they must have gone straight back leaving me with a perfectly clear trail to follow. The only problem was I didn't know how far they had come. I took comfort that Edward had managed to run here so surely it couldn't be _too_ far. Hopefully it wouldn't take more than a day's walk. Unless Edward had had some other kind of help.

I chose to sleep out the rest of the day to try and regroup some of my strength. My theory was that I would be able to keep walking for longer at night without the baking heat wearing me down as it would during the day. I had the flashlight that had come with the message to help me keep on the right track. Whoever had left that message hadn't made good on their promise, they had guaranteed help and so far we hadn't seen any sign of help being forthcoming. I felt very alone.

It was much easier to spend the night walking than attempting to sleep. I had the sound of my own regular footsteps to sustain me and my determination to reach my goal driving me onwards. I no longer felt like I was going to go insane at any given moment.

However that didn't keep me from getting steadily more exhausted. Unfortunately I wasn't a sporty person naturally. I really wasn't that fit. I came to the conclusion that I had only been able to keep going during that night we ran for it on pure adrenalin alone.

I made it though. It took me well into the next day but finally the tyre tracks became more defined and deeply rutted. I was clearly on an improvised road now. And there in the distance was a long low building. This must be it. I slowed my pace; I didn't want them to see me before I saw them. There were still a lot of scrubby bushes around that I could keep cover under. I eased my way carefully forwards.

Stationed next to the house was a small plane. _So that was how they managed to get out here in the middle of nowhere without anyone knowing, _I thought. There were two jeeps parked beneath a tree a few metres from the building. I imagined my friends being piled in to them when they were taken.

I crouched down beneath one of the trees and stared long at the squat building. There seemed to be no signs of life inside. Stealthily I crept around the back and up to one of the windows to peer inside. It was grimy but I could still see through it. Inside was a sparse room; I could make out a table in the corner with what looked like maps on it. I tilted my head trying to see further. Then a hand clasped over my mouth.

I jumped and tried to scream but the hand muffled my voice.

"What are you doing here? Do you have a death wish or what?" a familiar voice hissed in my ear. Demetri? I tried to twist out of his grip. He carefully removed his hand and I turned to stare at him.

"I came to find you all," I breathed back, confused by his reaction to me.

"Why didn't you run? You should have tried to get help not follow us here." He whispered angrily.

"How come you're out here? I thought you would all be locked up." I asked him hastily.

"My situation is a little different to everyone else's." He told me without meeting my eyes.

"I don't understand," I murmured.

"You need to go, Bella. Please." He implored desperately. "I can't help you if they see you here."

Something in what he said struck a cord in my mind. "It was you who left that message in the earth, wasn't it?" I questioned as the thought hit me.

He shuffled a little uncomfortably. "Yeah it was me." he muttered, "I wanted you to know that there was someone else on your side. I've been trying to help as much as I can but it's hard for me to get away."

"How can you get away at all when the others can't?" I pressed urgently, "Where are they?"

"Oh, you'll soon see that," came another eerily familiar voice from behind us. We both swung round in shock and my eyes alighted on none other than the guide, Eric.

"You!" I gasped in horror. Demetri just glared at him.

"Your father will be pleased to hear that you've been up to your tricks again." Eric said sarcastically.

"Your father?" I whispered in confusion to Demetri.

Eric pulled out a gun from his waistband and pointed it threateningly at me. My heart jolted painfully.

"That isn't necessary, she's not going to do anything." Demetri snapped at Eric who merely grinned at us. He came forwards and grabbed my arm pulling me back round to the front of the building. I heard Demetri sigh in defeat as he walked along behind us. My heart was hammering painfully panic surging through my veins. I could feel tears pricking at my eyes.

Eric threw me into the building; I crashed to my knees in front of a pair of feet encased in walking boots.

"What have we here?" asked a cool, impersonal voice. I looked up into the face of a man with nondescript brown hair. Stood behind him was another man. He was slightly taller with soft black hair. I guessed this must be Demetri's father. There was a definite resemblance between them.

"This is the friend of the actor's twins, James." Eric said, addressing the brown-haired man who ran his eyes critically over me.

"Hmm, I have a feeling you are going to be a peculiar little nuisance to us," he said coldly to me. "Take her to the cellar, Laurent," he instructed the black-haired man. The man called Laurent stepped forwards and gripped my arm in a painful vice-like grip. I squirmed away to no avail.

"Dad, please," Demetri pleaded, confirming my suspicions, "you don't need to keep her, she's not worth anything as ransom. Why don't we let her go?"

He tried to follow Laurent and myself but James grabbed him by the shoulder and threw him roughly back into the wall. Laurent gave him a warning look, "Don't, James," he said darkly in warning before pushing me down a flight of steps ahead of him. He quickly unlocked the door and shoved me inside, slamming it shut behind me. It took me a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the gloom.

Then a pair of strong arms grabbed me and pulled me into a tight embrace.

"Oh Bella, I didn't think they were going to get you. I thought I might never see you again," Edward breathed rapidly. I clung on to him tightly and my highly-strung nerves which had been stretched so hard over the past few days shattered. I started to sob into his shoulder. He kissed my hair comfortingly.

"So they did capture you?" Alice asked me, her voice sounding higher than usual in the enclosed space.

I shook my head. "No, I had to follow the tracks the jeeps had left. When I got here I saw Demetri. I don't understand. That man upstairs is his father but Demetri said he was trying to help us, he left the message and the flashlight, did he know what was going to happen all along?"

The others exchanged uneasy looks. "We don't know," Edward said finally, "he was the one who helped me get away long enough to warn you but at the time I didn't know he had any connection to those men. _Angela_ on the other hand, definitely knew what was going to happen all along."

"Angela?" I said in surprise. I glanced around the semi-lit room and saw that she was indeed absent.

"She's been working for them the whole time," Jasper told me darkly. "She's the one who enabled most of us to be caught."

"Why would she do that?" I gasped. They all shrugged.

"We know that they're taking us to hold us for ransom," Rosalie said slowly, "so I suppose Angela must just be getting a cut of the takings."

"That doesn't work." Edward cut in, "my father only offered this holiday to other people from wealthy families, she was who she said she was. Which means that she can't have done it for money as she has that in plenty."

"She must have some connection to them which we don't know about." Jasper said quietly.

"What about Demetri then? Why would someone kidnap their own son?" I asked perplexedly.

"I really don't know." Edward said quietly. Everyone fell silent.

"How did they manage to take you all?" I asked after a moment.

"They had needles full of a tranquilliser that they used to subdue us. That's why Emmett managed to shout out when he was taken, because he's so big it took a while to knock him out." Rose said with a grin.

"But why did they cut your hair?" I inquired to Heidi who had been silent up till now.

"It was that man's idea. James. He said it would scare the rest of you more. And so Angela did it." she told me in a monotone. I shuddered. I couldn't believe that Angela had been the traitor all along. She had been so nice.

"And Eric too." I said softly to myself. "Where both guides in their pay?"

"No," Emmett said slowly, "there only seems to be Eric around. We think he did away with the other guide. Do you remember the day of the storm? That was when he vanished and Eric turned up late looking all mysterious. We think he must have done him in then."

My stomach churned. All these people I had trusted and thought well of had turned out to have sinister agendas and had been lying all along. It made my hair stand on end that it was even possible that all these people had been contriving against us. And for so long we hadn't even had any idea that this was happening around us.

Edward was rubbing my back soothingly. "Are you alright?" he gently asked. I nodded weakly. He hooked his fingers under my chin and kissed me gently on the lips. I instantly felt soothed.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs. We all froze nervously. The door slammed open to show the two men, James and Laurent, stood there. James had a gun in his hand. I felt Edward pull me backwards away from the door.

"We're moving." James said abruptly, his cold eyes running over us all. "We'll take you up in pairs and don't try anything stupid. Don't think we aren't prepared to finish this." He chuckled cruelly.

"You two first." He snapped, waving the gun in mine and Edward's direction. I felt Edward tense next to me; glancing up at him I saw that his eyes were fixed on the gun in James's hand.

Laurent stepped forward and grabbed me by the arm again, pulling me towards James. I heard Edward following warily behind me.

They led us outside the building and over to the small plane where we were thrown ruthlessly inside. Eric was stood there to guard us as the two men went back for the others. I didn't dare speak I was so afraid. Where were they taking us?

It took only a couple of minutes for them to transport us all into the plane. Then the two kidnappers vanished again. 10 minutes passed before they returned and this time Laurent was holding up a sobbing Angela in his arms. He threw her in with the rest of us and then Eric slammed the door shut, sealing us in.

Rosalie shot Angela a filthy look, "Have your little friends betrayed you, Angela?" she sneered. "You know it serves you right. Don't expect any sympathy from us."

I looked carefully at Angela's crumpled form. I was certain we were missing something here. "Angela," I said taking a tentative step towards her, "can you tell us what happened to you? Why you did this?"

"It won't make any difference. Not after everything I've done. I don't deserve your forgiveness and I don't expect you to give it," she sobbed without looking up.

"You got that right," Rose snapped. I gave her a warning look.

"Why did you do it Angela?" I persisted.

She looked up at me then. There was a fresh, dark bruise spreading across her left cheek; she had clearly been struck. "James and Laurent wanted one of us on the inside to help them get at you," she whispered brokenly. "They wanted someone who you would all trust and go readily with."

"But they already had Demetri." Emmett interjected.

Angela shook her head, "He didn't know about any of this until Laurent took him that day when you were out looking for firewood, Emmett. I don't think Laurent had had any contact with Demetri for a long time before this. I guess that's part of the reason why they came up with this idea. They decided to make me their inside man instead. They said that you would all be more likely to trust someone like me than Demetri anyway."

"But why did you agree to it?" Alice asked. Angela shook her head as her tears began again, speech momentarily deserting her. A grinding sound interrupted us as the engines started. We all clutched to the walls as the plane began to move and slowly became airborne. My stomach turned over at the motion. Once we had steadied again we all looked back at Angela. She had regained her composure slightly.

"James took my boyfriend, Ben. He kidnapped him a fortnight before this trip started. I got a phone call from him a few days before it was due to start. I wasn't going to go because of Ben's disappearance but James told me I had to or he would hurt Ben. I've had to follow his every instruction for Ben's sake. It's been tearing me apart to betray you all like this but I had no choice." She broke down into uncontrollable sobs again.

Alice, Emmett and I rushed over to her and hugged her tightly. "Oh, Ange," I whispered, "it's okay, we don't blame you."

"We'd all have done the same in your place." Alice added gently. I glanced over at Edward and knew that was true.

"Is Ben all right now, are they going to let him go?" Emmett asked, watching Angela carefully. She began to shake frantically.  
"No," Angela's low voice shook as much as her body, "James didn't like the idea of freeing him. He killed him. Before we even arrived in Africa I think."

A haunted silence fell on us all. Everyone's face held the same stricken look.

"They killed him?" Rose repeated slowly.

Angela nodded. "James just told me now, before he threw me in here with you. He was laughing as he told me."

My eyes widened in horror. A shudder passed through me. This man had already proved how sadistic he was by the way he had tortured us all with the long drawn out captures. And now he was proved as a murderer. And the others at least were worth something to him as ransom. I wasn't.

Perhaps James's plan was to kill us all when he had the money. I wouldn't put it past him after everything I had heard. That left us with only one choice if we wanted to guarantee our continued survival. When this plane landed we had to find a way to escape and make our way to salvation. I didn't know if it was possible, there was a huge chance that we might not make it. But I had never been one to accept defeat so easily. There had to be a way. And together we would find it.

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That's it. Part 1 is finito. When I get back from my hols in two weeks I shall get stuck straight into Part 2: The Escape!

**A lot of you guessed Angela's story right. And some of you got that it was Laurent and that he was Demetri's dad. Give yourselves a pat on the back if you were one of those people. : )**

**And now I'm off to have a well-deserved break, methinks.**

**As always… REVIEW!!**


	15. Catastrophe

**I'm back! Did you miss me? If anyone cares, yes my holiday was super good.**

**But more importantly my views on Breaking Dawn: FRIGGIN AWESOME!! Sorry, just had to do it.**

**But now on with the show…**

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Edward's PoV

When the plane landed again our captors moved us into two jeeps at gunpoint one-by-one. I was horrified to realise that they had placed Bella in the other jeep. Or at least I hoped they had and that they hadn't just abandoned her in the wilderness again. I ground my teeth together as anger flooded me at the memory. I would get my revenge on them for doing that to her.

Alice was with me along with Rosalie, Heidi and Mike. She was shivering, her teeth chattering even though the heat was stifling in the back of this jeep. I put my arm around my sister's shoulders and tried to hug her reassuringly but the motion felt stiff and unnatural even to me. She whimpered quietly.

"Shh, Ali. It's okay, I promise it's going to be okay." I murmured as soothingly as I could. Rosalie leant over from where she was sitting opposite us and gripped Alice's tiny shaking hand.

"Be confident, Alice," she said in an almost normal voice, "I know you're capable of getting out of this all on your own and you're not alone, you've got us to help you. I for one haven't given up yet."

I had been surprised at how well Rosalie seemed to be coping with all of this. Ever since she had seen with her own eyes exactly what had befallen us she had seemed to take on a new kind of inner strength that I hadn't seen before. She was defiant. I thought it must stem from her obstinate personality. Alice looked like she was drawing strength from her at any rate.

"You don't think they're going to split us up now, do you?" she asked pensively.

Rose and I exchanged a worried glance. I hadn't thought of that. It would be a terrible blow to our morale if they did. I thought of Bella and the chance of never seeing her again. That thought had been haunting me morbidly for days now. I couldn't even think about it without being racked with an agonising heartache.

"I can't see any reason why they would want to do that," I lied to Alice. She sank back relieved. I knew her mind was on Jasper.

"Where are we?" Heidi asked in a hoarse whisper.

"It looked like we were on the edge of a jungle when they piled us in here," Alice answered uncertainly. There was a short silence broken only by the sound of the jeep jolting over the uneven track we were on.

"Where in god's name are they taking us?" Rosalie muttered to herself distractedly. I was about to respond when a huge metallic crashing sound drowned out my words. A colossal force smashed into the side of our jeep throwing Rosalie into me, knocking me back into the side. But I had no sensation of hitting the wall as the jeep continued to move with me and began to tip to the side as if it was going to roll over. The motion didn't stop and I knew we were going over. With another deafening crash the jeep was on its side and still rolling. I felt my body being thrown about into the sides and into the others as the jeep crashed over again. Then with a deep thud it came to a stop. My head was spinning too much for vision, I couldn't tell how badly hurt I was. Blackness crept over me.

**Bella's PoV**

I had been sat, silently wedged between Emmett and Jasper, trying not to think about what was going to happen next, where we were headed or how useless I was to the kidnappers. My thoughts were interrupted as our jeep swerved violently to the left and shouts echoed from the front cab where Demetri was sat with his father, Laurent. The shouts escalated in volume but I couldn't make out what they were saying. Their tone was clearly one of confrontation though. Then one came through higher and clearer than the rest,

"Let go of the wheel, you're going to get us both killed." It was Laurent's voice, shrieking. What on earth was Demetri doing? Then we swerved again and crashed with a terrible force into something. My head snapped back painfully.

"SHIT," I heard Emmett bellow as he tried to brace himself against the walls of the jeep. I grabbed a fistful of his shirt to try and keep myself from going flying. The jeep seemed to be out of control, I wasn't sure if we were moving straight forwards, or skidding sideways or even spinning in circles I was so disoriented.

Then with a crunch of folding metal and the shatter of breaking glass the jeep was brought to a whiplash-incurring halt. The four of us in the back fell down panting in relief. My head was spinning but I wasn't hurt. Of that I was sure.

"What the hell just happened?" Emmett asked his voice uplifted with exhilaration. Had he actually enjoyed that?

"I… I think that maybe Demetri just saved us," Angela suggested timidly, her voice slightly awed.

"There are no sounds coming from the cab," Jasper pointed out warily. Emmett raised one of his huge feet and kicked the rear door of the jeep. It swung open.

"Crash must have shaken it open." He said cheerfully. He made to step outside but Jasper placed a restraining hand on his arm.

"Careful. James might be out there and if he sees you trying to leave I think it is more than likely that he will use that gun," he warned him, quickly. Emmett seemed to weigh this up for a moment. Then he shrugged.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained." And he hopped out of the jeep. I froze waiting for the gunshot, heart hammering. It didn't come. Emmett cursed loudly and I jumped skittishly. At the sound Jasper leaped out after Emmett. After a moment's hesitation I followed too.

There was no sign of James with his gun and I instantly saw why. The other jeep was about hundred feet away lying on its side. It had rolled off the road down a short incline. My breath hitched in my throat, Edward was in there.

Emmett and Jasper were already there trying to force open the door. They succeeded just as I reached them. I brushed past them, making it into the dark interior first. My eyes searched immediately for Edward in the tangle of unconscious forms, not paying any attentions to the others lying there.

"Edward," I half-gasped, half-moaned and I threw myself down beside his unmoving body. I quickly placed my ear to his chest and held my breath as I listened. There! His heartbeat! He was alive thank god he was alive! Tears filled my eyes as I saw the blood on his face coming from a cut in his head. His arm was bleeding too but even without any medical knowledge or even a close examination of his wounds I could tell that they weren't life threatening. He was going to be all right, something deep down inside was telling me this.

The relief that was beginning to seep through me was brutally shattered as a shrill, horrified scream echoed from my right.

**Alice's PoV**

I was the first to regain consciousness in our jeep. My eyes snapped open in panic with the memory of why I had passed out. And then I screamed. I could hear voices around me. I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around me and lift me up, pulling me out of the carnage.

"It's okay, Alice, I've got you, you're safe now," Jasper's familiar voice whispered warmly in my ear as he carried me away. I raised my arms and wrapped them tightly round his neck.

"She's dead, Jazz, I opened my eyes and I saw her. She's dead." I sobbed into his shoulder. His arms tightened around me, squeezing me close.

"I know," he croaked roughly. "But you're okay," he repeated, more as if he was reassuring himself of this fact. I felt his lips brush my forehead.

"I feel so guilty," I murmured with my face still pressed against his shoulder.

"Why?" he asked me immediately, sounding stunned.

"Because I didn't like her and I said all those nasty things and now she's gone. I wanted her gone but not like this," I moaned.

"Don't Alice." Jasper breathed, his voice distressed. "I think all of us said something nasty about her at some point, she _was_ obnoxious. But we all know that you never wished this on her, please don't beat yourself up about this, things are bad enough without that."

"Jasper! Come here! We need your help!" Emmett called out from the direction of the jeep I'd just been pulled from.

Very carefully and slowly Jasper set me down with my back to a tree, facing away from the jeeps and into the jungle.

"Don't move," he whispered gently, "I'll be right back for you." He kissed me quickly on the lips and then jogged off back to Emmett.

I slowly shut me eyes. My head was still spinning sickeningly; maybe I had a concussion. I couldn't get the image of Heidi as I'd last seen her out from behind my eyelids. Even if I hadn't liked her it seemed impossible for me that she could not be here anymore. So fast, and it all was gone. I shuddered.

"Alice?" I recognised Rose's voice and I opened my eyes. She walked up to me, her steps a little uneven. Her face was bone white with just the tiniest hint of green highlighting it. She held her right arm close across her chest. She was clearly in pain.

"Rose," I gasped and tried to stand but as soon as I rose a sickening dizziness overtook me and I fell back into the tree my vision clouding over for a moment.

"Take it easy Alice. Don't try to get up." Rose insisted weakly as she sunk down on the ground beside me.

"Your arm?" I asked her tensely.

"Broken wrist," she told me and winced. "We'll have to try and make a splint for it." she turned even greener as she spoke.

Quick footsteps approached again and I looked up hazily to see Jasper stride over to us. He was pale; his face was strained with the horror of the situation. I met his eyes in a silent question.

"Edward's okay," he reassured me, "just a couple of deep cuts but nothing serious. He woke up just as Emmett and I were carrying his out of the jeep. Bella's with him, she's fine too." He fell silent and it was clear that he didn't want to say the next bit. "Heidi and Mike didn't make it. They were both dead when we reached them. It looks like broken necks from when the jeep rolled."

My stomach churned sickeningly again, like my body was trying to reject the information I had just been given. I had known about Heidi but Mike too? Killed? It couldn't be true. How could I have just witnessed two deaths, it seemed unreal?

"James? Laurent?" Rose asked her brother in a hushed voice.

"James is dead too, we haven't checked the other jeep yet," Jasper told us uneasily.

"Demetri!" I gasped. Oh god, please don't let Demetri be dead too. I staggered to my feet and lurched forwards. I didn't make two steps before I stumbled and nearly fell, my knees giving way. Jasper caught me before I hit the ground. He lifted me up into his arms again with ease. But he didn't move forwards towards the jeep.

"Please, Jazz." I breathed tentatively, "I need to know if he's alive or not." He looked conflicted, he clearly didn't approve of taking me towards the jeep where Laurent was possibly still alive and dangerous.

"Please." I whispered again. He sighed and I could see that he was giving in. Emmett and Rosalie appeared at his shoulder, Emmett half-holding Rose up. Carefully Jasper took another step towards the jeep.

"Wait!" Angela quickly stepped in front of us. "Let me go see first. I can see what state they are in, you don't have to risk yourselves."

My eyes teared up again at her words. I could see how desperately she was trying to make up for betraying us all. I waited with bated breath as she stepped up to the cab. She gasped, her eyes widening in horror. I felt Jasper tense around me. Angela whirled and waved us forwards frantically. She didn't seem able to sleep. Jasper still hesitated.

"What is it?" he demanded warily. "Laurent?"

"Dead," she gasped.

"Demetri?" I asked shrilly, panic rising now.

Angela shook her head. I didn't know what she meant by that. Jasper strode forwards quickly now up to the passenger door. I barely dared look through the window, I was so afraid of what I might see.

He was alive. His eyes were open and his chest was rising and falling rapidly. The front of his shirt was soaked with blood though. And tears were rolling down his cheeks.

"I killed him," he said hoarsely without turning his head to us, he carried on staring blankly forwards. "He was my dad and I've just killed him."

My heart broke for him as I realised what had happened. He had tried to save us all, set us free. But his attempts had caused us to crash, caused his father's death. I pulled myself out of Jazz's arms and reached in through the shattered window to brush the tears off his face with my fingertips.

"No, you didn't." I whispered soothingly, "You never meant for this, and you're dad would understand that, I'm sure."

He turned his head now to look at me with wild eyes and spoke desperately. "You don't understand. I messed up. We weren't supposed to crash. We're trapped now. We're stuck here. I've killed you all Alice."

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So, what do you think?

**Please, please, please review!**


	16. Stranded Out There

**Sorry I know I promised this two days ago but I seem to have lost the ability to write. Seriously, I knew exactly what I wanted to write but I've really struggled to get it down this chapter! That and the fact that I haven't been able to get myself to stop watching the Olympics. I promise to try harder next time.**

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Edward's PoV

While Bella was helping me bandage up the gash on my arm the others carried Demetri out of the cab. They laid him down next to me; he looked terrible. I didn't want to say it out loud but to me it looked like he wouldn't last much longer. His eyes were clenched shut with pain when they carried him over to us. His breathing was rapid and uneven. After exchanging a nervous look with Bella Angela gently lifted up his t-shirt revealing his injuries. There was a collective intake of breath at the sight.

There was a deep wound about five or six inches long on his left side situated just underneath his heart. He had been lucky that it had missed his heart. I guessed that it must have been caused by a shard of glass from the windshield; Demetri must have pulled it out himself. I couldn't see for sure how deep the wound was but it looked deadly serious.

"What do we do?" Rosalie whispered fearfully. We all glanced around at each other's faces uncertainly. What could we do? None of us had any medical knowledge and even if we did we had nothing other than scraps of dirty material to use as bandages. Even with my limited knowledge I knew that this wound would require stitches and antibiotics at the least. There _wasn't _anything we could do. But faced by the deaths of two of us already it was difficult to stomach another on our hands.

"Help me Bella," Alice hissed a little frantically as she began to rip Demetri's shirt off him and into strips. The girls quickly set about bandaging him; it seemed a hopeless endeavour to me. Alice had tears in her eyes.

Demetri seemed to come around a little at the movement around him. "I'm so sorry," he choked out. Alice made a soothing, shushing noise that didn't quite hide the sound of tears.

"It's not your fault," Angela muttered weakly, "you didn't know."

"All of this is my fault," Demetri repeated again a strange intensity to his shaky voice. He seemed determined to say what he had to say. "If it wasn't for me none of this would have happened."

"You can't blame yourself for what your father did," I told him softly. Demetri shook his head weakly.

"They came up with this plan because of me. I hadn't seen my father in years, ever since he was sent to prison. My mother didn't want him to have anything to do with us after that but when he was released he must have tracked us down. He wanted me back, you see. He was having us watched; it was James's idea, they'd 'worked' together before. Petty criminals all along. Except James was into more than petty crime. When they heard about this trip James got the idea that my dad could get me back this way.

"James got the idea of how much money we would all be worth into his head. He persuaded Laurent to go along with it. He told me he never wanted to get involved with murder, that was all James's sadism. All he wanted was to get me back and I killed him for it." he raised a hand to cover his eyes as the tears came again. I reached out a hand and gave his shoulder a squeeze; it was all I could think to do to reassure him. Everyone else seemed numbed.

"I've felt so guilty." He said, suddenly speaking again. "I feel like it's my fault that you're all in this mess. I've been trying to help you out as much as I can. Trying to get messages to you, but there was so little I could do. I've felt so useless." He finished brokenly. I got stiffly to my feet and walked away. I couldn't bear to watch this anymore. I felt useless now, Demetri was probably going to die and there was absolutely nothing I could do to help him. And after everything he had risked to try and help us. He hadn't mentioned it but I knew that he had been more than aware of what James might have done to him for all his attempts to help us. Laurent's protection had only gone so far against James.

I heard footsteps behind me and the sound of my cousin's deep sigh. "Any ideas for what we do next?" he asked me sounding as if he desperately needed to hear that I did.

I shook my head. "I had been thinking that we needed to try and find our way out of this jungle. Follow this track and see where we end up. It's no good staying here with nothing to eat or drink. But Demetri can't be moved, it would do no good carrying him, we wouldn't get anywhere fast enough. He's not going to last though either."

"I know." Emmett said heavily. "But we can't abandon him. Alice would never hear of it for one thing. And it's not fair."

"I can try to fix that jeep," Rosalie said from behind me. I hadn't heard her approach. I turned to look at her reproachfully.

"How much do you know about fixing cars?" I asked doubtfully.

"She's an expert." Emmett declared proudly. His whole face had lit up. "This is it, this is the answer. Rose, you're fantastic! You've saved all our lives!"

Rosalie still looked uneasy. "I said I could try. I don't know how bad the damage is yet. I saw there were a few tools in the cab, which I can use, but if any of the parts are wrecked we don't have any replacements. We just better hope things are not to bad. Please don't get your hopes up. And I'll need your help, Emmett. I can only use one hand right now." She indicated her broken wrist.

"I have faith in you." Emmett told her confidently.

**Jasper's PoV**

Night fell when Rosalie was still working on the jeeps. With every passing hour my hopes sunk a little further. I could see from my sister's face that the prognosis on the jeep was not good. Rose was a genius when it came to cars but there were still limits to what she could do with few tools and no spare parts. I caught her eye as she finally raised her head from the mangled hood of the jeep. She shook her head sadly. My spirits sunk.

We settled down to try and sleep when it went dark. There was a problem with the thought of sleeping on the ground where there was a chance that snakes could creep up on us in the dark but there wasn't anything we could do about that. Except pray. The bigger problem though was food and water. We had precisely no food and only two bottles of water from the jeeps. We gave most of the water to Demetri; he needed it more.

Alice was restless all night long despite all my attempts to sooth her. I kept waking to the sounds of her shifting around on the ground beside me until I finally gave up on getting any sleep.

"Alice, you need to sleep at some point, you know," I whispered to her at some nameless time of night.

"I've been thinking about what's going to happen next, Jasper." She told me softly. I rolled up onto my side to try and see her face better, but it was too dark to see anything clearly.

"And?" I prompted.

"Rose is not going to be able fix those jeeps is she," Alice stated bleakly. I sighed deeply.

"If she hasn't made any headway yet then I doubt there is anything she can do. The look on her face before said as much." I said quietly.

"Then we're going to have to go ahead on foot or stay here and starve, right?" she concluded. I hesitated before assenting. That was exactly how things seemed to me but I didn't want to admit that to Alice. Demetri didn't fit well into this solution and she wasn't going to accept that easily.

As if reading my mind she added, "But Demetri can't make it with us if we walk away."

An uncomfortable silence fell between us, as I had no answer to her statement.

"If we leave Demetri behind," Alice started again, "he'll die pretty fast. He can't move to feed himself or even get any water. He's not going to last very long as it is."

"Alice…" I cut in warily. I didn't like the sound of where this was going.

"Someone's going to have to stay behind with him." Alice finished confirming my fears. My heart sank. I really didn't relish the idea of dying out here without even making an attempt to get out.

"You've already made up your mind." I said unquestioningly.

"I can't leave him, Jazz. We all know now how hard he tried to avoid this and he did succeed in freeing us from James even if things did backfire a bit. I can't ask anyone else to stay behind for me, not when we're all so desperate to get out of here. It's the only option left." She said reasonably.

"You don't have to do this, Alice." I told her gently.

"I do," she insisted, beginning to sound upset now.

"Think about it Alice. We don't know how far we are into this jungle, the others may never find their way out. And even if they do there is no guarantee that they could find you again. Unless we get lucky and find help fast Demetri isn't going to make it, even with you caring for him. Then you'd be stuck out here trying to survive off unidentified fruit and rainwater. You'd die too Alice." I implored to her persuasively.

"I don't have a choice. I can't leave him here to die alone, Jasper. How could I do that?" she sobbed brokenly.

"I'm not asking you to." I whispered back as gently as I could. "I don't need to be a genius to see that you won't agree to leave him here alone. But I can't leave you behind to die here, Ali. Don't ask me to do that."

"What are you suggesting?" she whispered to me uncertainly.

"That you let me stay here instead. You won't have to abandon Demetri; I can look after him till the end in your place. Just please try and get yourself out."

"Jazz, no." she sobbed.

"You know that Demetri would agree with me too," I said, hating myself for doing this to her. But it was far better than the alternative.

"No," she sobbed again. I gathered her into my arms, I knew she would give in eventually; there wasn't much she could argue with. As she'd said herself there wasn't any alternative. She gripped the front of my shirt tightly as she sobbed into my chest.

"I love you, Jazz." She whispered tearfully.

"I know," I whispered back, my throat tight as I stroked her hair. "I love you too."

**Bella's PoV**

I awoke at the very first tiny glimmer of light coming through the treetops above us. I felt stiff all over; I was surprised I had managed to sleep at all. The ground was hard and uneven, it was stiflingly hot and the insects around us had been making a deafening noise all night long. But somehow I had fallen asleep. And stayed asleep. And not been bitten by some poisonous snake in the night. I suppose that was something to be grateful for. There wasn't much need for gratitude at the moment.

I rolled my stiff neck to the side and saw that Edward was still asleep beside me. I decided not to wake him, he deserved whatever little peace we could scrounge. Emmett and Rose were still asleep too a little way away from us. I could just make out Angela a little further on from them. I rolled my neck to the other side and saw Alice sat beside the unconscious Demetri. I went over to her and sat beside her.

"How's he doing?" I asked hoarsely.

"He was awake before," she told me in an emotionless voice, "but he's not any better."

"Where's Jasper?" I asked her slightly nervously. Her tone worried me.

"He's gone to look around to see if there's a water source anywhere near here." She told me in the same tone as before.

"Have I missed something?" I inquired shakily.

"He wants to stay here instead of me to look after Demetri." She told me in that same numbed voice. And now I knew why as a cold hand clenched my heart. It was suicide to stay behind. Somewhere unacknowledged in the back of my mind I had known someone would have to, but not Jasper. I hadn't wanted to think of who would stay but Jasper was like a brother to me. This couldn't be happening.

But no wonder Alice was like this. I tried to imagine how I would feel if Edward elected to stay behind. I shuddered convulsively.

"He can't," a voice rasped out, making me jump. Demetri was awake and looking up at Alice and myself. "I won't let him stay. You all have to go."

"We can't leave you alone, Demetri." Alice murmured gently. "You need someone to stay with you while the rest get help."

"I know I'm going to die, Alice. It makes no sense for someone to stay just to keep me company." He said harshly, his voice still no more than a hoarse whisper.

"Dem…" Alice began but he cut her off.

"It's suicide to stay, Alice. The rest of you are all okay, you can make it back. You have to go." He said as forcefully as he could.

There were footsteps and Jasper walked back into our clearing, his eyes on Demetri. I saw him glance up quickly to meet Alice's gaze.

"I'm staying." But it wasn't Jasper who spoke as I expected; the forceful voice came from behind.

We whirled around. Everyone was awake now and watching this little scene. It was Angela who spoke.

"No, don't argue with me anyone. I made my decision last night. Demetri's right you can all make it back. But I've got nothing to go back for. I don't deserve a second chance at life after what I did to you all. I'm going to stay and make as much amends for what I did as I can and nothing any of you can say will change my mind."

Everyone seemed to reel in shock after Angela strong words. I knew I didn't really know her well but I felt that I had come to know her enough to see that when she was determined like this nothing would sway her from her decision.

"Ange," Alice said weakly. But she couldn't seem to find anything to say.

"Go," she said abruptly to us all. "The sooner you go the sooner you can get a rescue for us." And she turned her back on us all.

I got carefully to my feet and moved slowly over to her.

"Angela," I said gently, I placed my hand lightly on her shoulder.

"You must understand how I feel, Bella. I can't go back with you knowing what I did. This is the best way, already I feel so much more relieved." She spoke so quietly it was difficult to hear her.

"You never know, we might find a group of explorers just around the corner and we'll able to come back and save you," I said trying to sound brave.

"Thanks, Bella," she said, turning relieved eyes to me, "thanks for accepting my decision."

I felt tears stinging at the back of my eyes. I gripped her suddenly into a tight hug. "I promise, Angela, that I will come back for you. You are not going to die out here on your own. I swear it. You will be rescued."

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Review if you feel like it.


	17. The Horizon Turns Black

**Thank you all so much for your support and ideas! You guys are lifesavers! Or story-savers I should say : ) Special thanks to soveryunpretty, bellsaway and Laurla Mae. I incorporated your ideas to make this chapter and you guys need to take all the credit. Round of applause to them! And Nikkirenzo59… here's some more AXJ for you!**

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Jasper's PoV

We walked all day. In normal circumstances this would not have been too much of a problem but these were not normal circumstances. For one thing none of us had eaten well for a while now and I was struggling to pinpoint when we had last had food. It had been from James anyway and therefore in small portions. We were all beginning to feel the hunger.

On top of that was the stultifying heat in the jungle. It was like trying to walk through honey during the worst parts of the day; the humidity was unbearable. We were all sweating too much, losing all our water, slowly dehydrating.

And to cap it all every single one of us was injured in some way. We probably all had concussions but there was no way to deal with that. Alice and Rose were the two worst off. Rose of course had her broken wrist to contend with. Every step she took made her look more green. We had strapped it up as best we could but it wasn't enough. She must have been in agony. Emmett tried his best to ease things for her. His face became more and more distressed as the day went on.

Alice wasn't badly injured but walking as much as this was not easy on bare feet. She had not had her shoes since she had been kidnapped. At this rate her feet would be bloody and raw in only a few more hours. I carried her on my back as much as I could but she didn't like to feel herself as a burden on anyone. It was stupid.

It was a long day.

We gave up when it went dark. There wasn't much talk; everyone was too tired. Except Alice. She had a strange manic gleam in her eyes. Maybe the stress of what we were going through was getting to her.

"What's wrong, Alice?" I whispered to her after watching her stare up at the dark canopy above for several long minutes. She was clearly not intending to sleep.

She didn't answer for such a long time that I thought she hadn't heard me.

"Do you think they're okay?" she finally responded in a low voice.

"Who?" I asked, although I already knew.

"Demetri and Angela." She confirmed.

"We've only been gone a day, nothing will have happened to them since then. They'll be fine, we'll find help for them soon." I promised her, not believing a word of it myself.

Alice was silent again for a long time but I knew she wasn't asleep. At one point I thought I heard her breathe something like 'wish I knew'. I reached out and pulled her closer to me. She was trembling.

"I love you, Jazz," she suddenly whispered fiercely. "No matter what happens, no matter what I do, you need to know that I love you. More than anyone else."

"Shh, Ali, shh," I soothed, "nothing's going to happen. It'll be all right, trust me."

"I love you," she repeated brokenly.

"I know, angel. I love you too."

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When I woke up I knew instantly that something was wrong. It was still very dark, nowhere near sunrise yet. And something was missing.

Alice.

I staggered to my feet drunkenly; panic flooding through my veins. No! Not again! How could she be gone again when the kidnappers were dead?

"ALICE!" I screamed.

There were muffled sounds of the others jerking awake in alarm but I was insensible to them. I started to run, desperate to catch up, to find Alice. I couldn't accept that she could be gone again. I felt arms grab me from behind and I stumbled, knocked off balance.

"Jasper, what the hell!" Emmett yelled as he tried to restrain me.

"Let go of me! They've got Alice! I have to find her!" I screamed at him still trying to throw him off me. I heard the others gasp behind me at my words.

"Who's got her?" Bella asked confusedly. I abruptly stopped moving. Bella was right, who could have taken her they were all dead. Light shone around the trees and I turned to see Edward training the flashlight on the surrounding area. There was nothing and no one to be seen. I felt my panic begin to mount again.

"What's that?" Rose suddenly blurted sharply. I whirled around to see her pointing her finger at a tree by my left. I stared at it in confusion, seeing nothing. Then Edward shone the flashlight onto the bark. There _was _something there, carved into the trunk. A stepped tentatively closer feeling my hands begin to shake as if in premonition of what was coming. Another step brought me close enough to read what was written there and my blood ran cold.

There, unmistakably in Alice's handwriting, was a single word. '_Sorry_'

Her words from earlier suddenly took on a new meaning. Her strange behaviour was abruptly comprehendible to me. Everything clicked into place.

"Sorry?" Bella read aloud, her forehead furrowed in bafflement. "For what? I don't get it. Where is she?"

"It means, Bella," I said in a dead voice, "that's she's gone back."

"WHAT!" Edward and Emmett yelled at the same time.

"Gone back?" Bella repeated in a small voice. "Why would she do that?"

I turned away from her intense eyes trying to ignore the pain that was ripping my heart into smaller and smaller shreds with every passing second.

It was Rose who answered Bella. She knew me well enough that she could probably read the answer on my face. "She's gone back for Demetri, hasn't she?" she said quietly. I nodded shakily still not turning round to look at them.

"Demetri!" Emmett growled alarming me. "For god's sake! Is she insane? What does she think she can achieve by going back to him?"

"She felt guilty for leaving him behind," I croaked. "She felt she should have been the one to stay with him not Angela." A silence followed my words. I still didn't look at them. I knew what I was going to do next.

I started forwards out of the clearing. As soon as I started to walk the others all began clamouring my name. I ignored them and kept walking.

Rose caught hold of my arm in a vicelike grip with her good hand. "Stop!" she demanded, "Stop, Jasper. You can't go out into the jungle in the dark. Don't be stupid. We'll have to wait till morning." I glared at her but she stayed firm.

"Alice is out there somewhere alone in this jungle right now. Anything could happen to her. She could be hurt or lost or anything. I am going after her and there is nothing you can do to make me stay!" I hissed forcefully and wrenched my arm free.

"Hey, maybe Rose is right," Emmett said uncertainly, "it won't help Alice if we all get lost."

I turned on him furiously. "We are not all going to get lost because I'm not asking you to come with me!"

"You can't go on you own," Bella cried anxiously. Rose nodded in agreement. I felt like screaming in frustration. I turned my eyes desperately to Edward, Alice's brother, hoping he would take my side here and bring the others to reason.

He looked strained with worry and fear. He met my gaze for a long moment before drawing in a long shuddering breath and inclining his head towards me in an infinitesimal nod. I exhaled in relief.

"Jasper's right. We can't waster any time if we are going to catch up with Alice." He said quietly but firmly. I sighed, that hadn't been exactly what I wanted but I would accept it.

We had already wasted enough time. I set off quickly through the tightly growing trees trying to suppress my unshakeable premonition that something bad had already befallen Alice.

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**Edward's PoV**

Bella started to stumble with exhaustion after only an hour or so into our nighttime mission. I kept my arm securely around her waist to keep her from falling. She had enough trouble keeping from tripping over tree roots in the daytime when she was wide-awake.

I didn't feel remotely tired. I couldn't. I was far too afraid. I couldn't keep from imagining all the terrible things that might have happened to my baby sister. How could she be so foolhardy as to trek off like this in the middle of the night?

"Are you sure we're still going the right way?" Emmett whisper-called from behind me.

"Yes." Jasper snapped before I could open my mouth. A small whimper sounded from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder at Rosalie's white face. I couldn't tell if the whimper was because of the pain coming from her wrist or due to her brother's harsh tone.

"Edward?" Bella whispered to me, her voice so low that I couldn't make out the emotion in it.

"Yes, love," I whispered back.

"If I ask you a question will you tell me the truth? Not try to shield me just tell me what you really think?" she implored to me.

"Okay," I acquiesced warily.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Do you think we are going to die in this jungle?"

At her words it felt like an iron fist closed around my heart. Deep down inside I did believe that, yes, we would all die in this jungle. From what I knew of geography I understood that these equatorial forests were very, very large in scale. None of us could say for certain how far we had been driven through it before the crash but even a reasonably short way could be too much for us to escape in time when we had no resources and were injured. There was also no way to know for certain that we were ever going in the right direction.

But how could I tell Bella that. How could I admit to her that I retained no hope of ever having any more life beyond this stultifying, claustrophobic forest? It would break her heart. I couldn't bear to do that to her even if I had promised.

"Bella," I started slowly.

"ALICE!" Jasper suddenly bellowed making Bella nearly jump out of her skin and all thoughts of my mortality to flood out of my mind.

"Alice?" I gasped. Jasper was sprinting now his flashlight focussed on a huddled figure lying on the ground. I started to run, my blood pounding through my veins.

I skidded to my knees beside her unmoving form, Jasper already at her head.

"Alice, what's wrong?" I moaned, "Speak to me Alice."

"Alice, Alice," Jasper was repeating her name as if it was a desperate prayer as he cradled her in his arms. "Open you eyes, Alice, I need you…" he broke off unable to speak anymore. Alice remained unresponsive.

The others were crowded around us but I ignored their presence, my whole consciousness focussed on my sister as I grabbed her wrist and felt for her pulse. It was there, faint and flickering but there.

"What's wrong with her?" choked Jasper, finding his voice again.

"Guys?" whispered Bella from my right. We both turned to her frantically. She had Alice's bare left foot cupped in her hands. "Look." She said. There on Alice's tiny ankle were two small red contusions. "I think she's been bitten by a snake…" Bella finished sounding somewhere between stunned and horrified.

Jasper didn't react at first. He remained still as if turned to stone, staring at Bella. Then he let out a stricken cry that echoed back off the trees that stood like emotionless, watching sentinels all around us. The returning sound of the cry sounded inhuman, monstrous. And truly at that moment I myself didn't feel human. For no one could ever feel as wretched as I did then and still be a human being. It had been too much, gone on too long. I had withstood everything else all the fear from the kidnappings and I had reached my limit. No more could be taken. Something in me broke.

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Where are things going to go from here? I do actually know now ;) but I want to hear your theories! Is Alice going to live…

**Review!**


	18. Darkest Hour

**I'm finally back! I'm so, so sorry about the huge delay but I've had the term from hell and I'm not exaggerating.**

**Recap: they are all stranded in a Ugandan jungle, Demetri is badly injured and Angela stayed with him while the others went on ahead. They didn't get very far. Last chapter ended with Alice being bitten by a snake.**

**WARNING: for anyone who is feeling sensitive right now there are some traumatic scenes in this chapter. Don't read if you might be upset.**

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**Angela's PoV**

The jungle was at once both full of sound and deathly quiet. The sound of the animals and insects in the surrounding undergrowth was almost overwhelming; it made my skin crawl. I was a little afraid of what might be out there just out of sight in the dark trees. But the silence was far more unnerving; because it was a silence born of the most extreme form of isolation I had ever known. The knowledge that there were no humans anywhere within countless miles of here weighed down on here. I thought I might go mad.

But I wasn't alone. Only inches away from me lay Demetri. He was still here and periodically he was quite lucid, enough that we could talk. At first he had chastised me for staying back with him and forfeiting my chance of escaping with the others but he had let it go fairly quickly. I knew that, even though he wouldn't admit it out loud, he was glad that I was still here with him. Although increasingly I became aware that I was only going to be able to save him from dying alone. Unless help came very, very soon he wasn't going to live to see his next birthday.

"Demetri?" I whispered as softly as I could and still be heard. The sound of my voice spoken aloud startled me every time I spoke after the uniform quietness of the jungle.

Demetri didn't respond. He lay still, unmoving except for the shallow movement of his chest as it rose and fell with his breathing.

I sighed, resigning myself for another endless night it the dark, sinister forest.

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**Bella's PoV**

"Alice? Can you hear me, Alice? Open your eyes, please open your eyes. For me, Ali. Please." Jasper kept up a steady stream of pleas to the unresponsive body that was Alice. She lay on the ground in the centre of a circle created by us all. Her eyes wandered behind her eyelids restlessly and her skin was covered with a thin sheen of sweat. It was clear that the snake's venom had sent her into a fever.

Emmett and Edward seemed crushed by this latest of catastrophes that had befallen us. They both sat there silent and unmoving, just staring at their cousin/sister. I had tried to support Edward but he hadn't seemed to have heard me. It was like he was beyond my reach now. I hated feeling helpless in any way and that was exactly what I was now. I couldn't help Edward through his pain and I couldn't help Jasper either with his. I couldn't help Alice; I just didn't know how to save her.

"Isn't there anything else we can do for her?" asked Rosalie hoarsely. None of us had spoken for quite some time, except Jasper.

I looked up to meet Rose's eyes and saw my own agony echoed there. I shrugged helplessly.

Edward stirred for the first time in hours. "What she needs is to be at a hospital where they can give her the antidote. She could be saved in a second then. That's all we would need to do for her but we can't even do that." His voice was bitter with self-loathing. I reached out and took his hand in mine; he squeezed on to it tightly.

"She could pull through this herself. She's going to pull through this." Jasper muttered passionately, sounding feverish himself.

"What if she doesn't?" Emmett asked bleakly.

No one answered.

We all raised our eyes and glanced from one person to another slowly calculating what it would do to each of us to lose such a central member of our group.

Then I met Jasper's eyes and he was glaring murderously at us all.

"What makes all of you so defeatist?" he snarled angrily, "we, all of us, have gone through hell in the past few weeks! Worse than hell! We've been through worse than any of us could have imagined before it happened. And we've survived! We're all still here, still alive! And I know I have no intention of giving in now. I'm going to keep on fighting! And I sure as hell know that Alice is going to keep on fighting too!"

There was a moment's silence as we all reeled at Jasper's speech. My mind whirled, I felt like I was sick myself, I couldn't think straight. I was too exhausted, starving and thirsty for that. But somewhere in my grief stricken mind I latched onto this thought. I agreed with Jasper.

"He's right." I breathed.

Rose nodded. "We all need to keep on believing or none of us will make it."

"She's strong, you're right she is a fighter." Emmett said, sounding as if he was trying to convince himself.

"Keep going, sister." Edward breathed to her softly.

Silence fell again and in the absence of our rousing sentiments we all recognised that as much as we could believe in ourselves there was still nothing we could do to save Alice.

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Angela's PoV

I woke up when it was still pitch black all around. For a moment I didn't understand what had woken me so abruptly. Then I heard the rasping, harsh sound coming from my left.

I leapt to my feet jerkily, panic coursing through me before I realised what I was hearing.

"Demetri?" I gasped in horror, crouching down at his side. He was awake now, but his eyes were squeezed shut with pain. His breathing was shallow and each breath seemed to be both torturously hard work and agonisingly painful to him.

I grabbed his hand tightly in my own. "It's okay, Demetri, just hold on a little longer. Everything will be okay, I promise." I choked out, sounding more panicked than comforting.

"It's too late," he rasped back.

"No, no, don't say that." I half begged him. "The other's are going to get help. They'll bring back doctors and rescuing teams. We'll be all right." My voice was rising with stress.

He shook his head. "It's too late. I can feel it Angela. I'm not going to make it."

I began to cry softly.

"I'm so sorry that I kept you back here with me. Everything's my fault." He went on hoarsely.

"Don't give up now…" I whispered so quietly I wasn't sure he heard me.

"I'm so sorry for what happened to you and your boyfriend. I don't expect you to forgive me for bringing this down upon you but I truly am sorry."

I shook my head wordlessly, tears streaming down my cheeks.

"Thank you for everything you've done for me, Angela." He whispered now, his voice fading. "You are a wonderful person."

"Please don't leave me," I whispered far too quietly for anyone to hear.

"Thank you…" he breathed. And then he died.

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Jasper's PoV

The others had moved to the other side of the clearing we were in. I don't think they could cope with watching Alice any more. But I wouldn't leave her. I would rather be here watching every toss and turn she made than not be by her side at a time like this. I needed to know.

She didn't look good. Despite everything I said I had to admit that to myself. But that wasn't reason to accept the worst. People came back from worse than this all the time. Even if we were trapped in some godforsaken jungle that didn't mean that she would automatically die from this. Tribal people lived in jungles all over the place and they didn't drop down dead after every little snakebite. Surely they managed to survive them, right?

I just wish she would give some sign that she was at least semi-conscious. But she gave no sign that she was aware of my presence beside her. She didn't react to my voice or touch. She just lay there, feverish.

But I wasn't going to quit just because of lack of encouragement. "I'm still here with you, Alice. I'm not going anywhere. Not until you wake up. And you're going to wake up; I know you are. You have to wake up, Ali, because Edward will lose his marbles if you don't. He's already cracking up. So you have to wake up to sort your silly brother out."

I paused for a moment surprised at myself for not feeling stupid for talking to an unconscious person like this. But it didn't feel stupid; it felt right. Like she could hear me. That gave me hope.

"Rose and Bella are relying on you too. I know you've not known each other that long really but I have and trust me they've never gotten as close to anyone as they have to you and your family before. I think they've been waiting to have a friend like you for a long time. There's always been something missing all the years they've been best friends. You're not going to let them down now, are you Ali? They deserve better than that."

I paused again. Gently I traced my fingers down her jaw line. Her bones were so small and delicate. She seemed so fragile. But so beautiful.

"You're incredible, Alice. I could sit for hours watching you and still be awed by you. You look more like an angel than a human. Sometimes I can't believe you're real." I slowly traced my fingers down her slender neck and brushed them along her collarbone. "And you know what's incredible? That you can be this beautiful and also be the sweetest, kindest, happiest person in the world without being conceited or arrogant or anything like that – though you'd have enough reason to be. No, instead you're friendly and accepting and generous and warm. It's like the sun's shining brighter than ever before when you're around. You make life beautiful, even when things were dangerous and frightening as they have been." My fingers faltered as they brushed over her delicate eyelids. "But you're slipping away from me, Ali. I feel like I'm losing you now, after everything we've come through. I need you, angel. I can't imagine going on with life without you now that I've known you. I love you. Alice. I love you. You have to survive this, love, you have to or I won't." My voice broke on this last statement and I dropped my head into my head, despair overwhelming me.

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Angela's PoV

Alone. Oh my god, I was alone. I was lost in the middle of a jungle in the heart of a foreign continent. There was no one around for miles and miles and miles. There was no way for me to find my way out of here. All the trees just looked the same. I would be trapped here forever. Forever. For the rest of my life which wasn't going to be much longer.

I had just managed to hold onto my sanity whilst Demetri was still alive beside me. But he was gone. He had left all alone here. And I was never going to be able to get out of here.

My breathing started to come harder and faster through my chest. I couldn't suck in the air fast enough. it wasn't enough. I was suffocating because my body had plenty of oxygen but my hysterical mind was telling me I couldn't breath. I was suffocating!

"No, no, no, no, NO!" I screamed my voice tearing at the volume of my shriek. I was on my feet backing away in horror from my fate. This couldn't be it. I couldn't be all alone out here. I wouldn't accept it!

"NO!" I screamed again and I started to run. I ran faster than I had ever run before but it still wasn't fast enough. My muscles screamed in protest at the abuse but I kept going faster and faster. My breath came in sharp gasps but I kept on running. I was running so fast that a small detached part of my brain marvelled that I hadn't run headlong into a tree by now but I didn't slow down. I was sobbing almost to hard to see. But the speed of my run helped to distract me every so slightly from my pain and fear. I had never felt so terrified in my life. But then I had never known what it was to be truly alone before, to be truly out of reach of everyone.

My foot hit a root and I flew forwards, the inky ground coming flying up to meet me. I hit it hard, knocking the wind out of me. I lay there stunned for several seconds before I started to cry again. Quieter though this time. Pitiful, hopeless sobs.

I didn't have the energy or inclination to move now. I would just lie here until I died. There was no point in getting up and struggling on futilely. I would just cry myself into the waiting oblivion and try not to think anything at all while I waited for the inevitable to happen.

A rustle behind me broke through my focus on not thinking. _What's behind me? _I thought dully, without any real interest. I hoped vaguely that it was a large animal, like a tiger of something, so that my end might come that little bit quicker.

The rustles continued, slowly drawing closer. I tiny shiver of fear passed down my spine. So I wasn't as uncaring about what happened next to me as I thought. The rustles sounded faintly like footsteps in their pace and rhythm but they were too light and quiet. _Wishful thinking, _I thought at myself with asperity.

When the rustles drew close enough to be at my side they stopped. There was no sound. Then a pair of unbearably gentle fingers brushed along my cheekbone. A deep, warm voice whispered,

"You're safe now."

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Cliffhanger! I really enjoyed writing this chapter! Does that make me sick?

**Tell me what you think of it, especially Jasper's speech (I personally loved that!) and what are your theories on who it is who spoke to Angela?**

**Desperately awaiting reviews… :)**


	19. Someone To Hold You

**I'm not even going to try and make excuses. I'm just going to say I'm sorry. A million times. But I'm back now and I hope that maybe this chapter might be worth at least a little of the ridiculously long wait.**

**Recap: Alice was bitten by a snake and is now lying on the brink of life and death! Demetri**_** is **_**dead and Angela is somewhere in the jungle with a mysterious someone who has told her she is 'safe'.**

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Bella's PoV

When the sun rose we all unanimously agreed that we should start moving again. It was quite obvious all round that Alice's only chance would be real medical attention and it needed to be soon. So we needed to renew our efforts to get out of here. The only problem was that none of us were very optimistic that we had any chance of succeeding.

Alice still hadn't woken up. Or shown any signs that she was going to. Jasper carried her in his arms while we walked. He wouldn't let anyone help him with her either; there was no way he would be letting go of her at any point today.

The atmosphere as we walked was oppressive. No one was willing to break the silence. Or to say the unthinkable that we were all thinking. We just kept on walking, moving on autopilot. We didn't stop till after noon when unexpectedly something broke the monotony of the jungle.

"Do you hear that?" Rosalie said suddenly. I raised my head wearily having heard nothing other than insect sounds and our own footsteps for the past several hours.

We all stopped walking for a second to listen. "Sounds like water…" Edward volunteered tentatively. A little flicker of hope fluttered in my heart. I wasn't really sure why, exactly but finding running water had to seem like a good sign.

Abruptly Jasper pushed past the rest of us; Alice still cradled in his arms. After a seconds hesitation the rest of us followed. And there it was, the deep green, smoothly flowing water of a jungle river. To me right then it looked like a vision of paradise. And Emmett seemed to think so too.

He gave a great whoop of joy and then threw himself off the bank straight into the middle of the river.

"EMMETT!" Rose screamed as he disappeared under a surge of now roiling water. A moment later he surfaced again shaking his wet hair doggishly out of his eyes with his big boyish grin plastered across his face.

"Emmett! Get out of there! There might be piranhas or anything in that water!" squealed Rosalie. That comically wiped the smile off Emmett's face and he quickly kicked out towards the bank.

"Talk about inappropriate," muttered Edward as he turned away from his cousin and walked over to where Jasper had laid Alice gently down by the water's edge. She was as still and unresponsive as a mannequin.

"Maybe if we can cool her down a little with the river water she might come round." Murmured Jasper softly. I wondered whether that comment had been directed at Edward and me or if he was just talking aloud to himself.

I knelt down on the small area of ground between Alice and the river and with cupped hands I scooped up a little water and gently poured it over her forehead. It didn't appear to make any difference. Placing my hand against her cheek I felt how her skin was still burning up as if there was a fire burning just millimetres beneath her skin. Jasper and Edward had followed suit and were also cupping handfuls of water onto Alice's body. I couldn't shake off the nagging thought that it was like trying to put out a raging forest fire with small cupfuls of water. I felt Emmett and Rosalie come up behind me. Emmett pulled off his sodden shirt and used it to dab at the exposed parts of her skin.

So there we all were, surrounding Alice's tiny body, desperately doing all we could to try and keep her alive. And it just didn't seem to be enough.

Or maybe it was.

Her eyelids flickered. I stopped breathing, my own eyes shot up to meet Jasper's, which mirrored my feelings of shock and barely believed hope. Jazz instantly had her face cradled in his hands.

"Alice," he breathed, for once his voice completely steady, "Open your eyes." We all waited, frozen with baited breath, as her lids trembled again.

"Come on, Alice," I willed her almost silently under my breath. And then we saw that sight that seemed even more beautiful than the jungle river. A little glimmer of hazel.

Blearily Alice endeavoured again to open her eyes and to keep them open. Her gaze shifted unfocusedly from one face to another before fixing on Jasper's.

"I heard you," she whispered, her voice very frail, "I heard what you said to me when you thought you were losing me. I love you too."

Jasper's eyes were shining with tears as he oh-so-carefully pulled her up into his arms. "I meant every word," he whispered.

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Angela's PoV

In spite of the reassuring words _"You're safe now" _my heart seemed to jar to a halt with fear. The voice was masculine and my mind instantly jumped back to memories of James and Laurent, even though I knew them to be dead. The thought of being alone in the heart of a dark and deadly jungle with a predatory man like James was literally my worst nightmare.

As if he could read my thoughts the voice spoke, "It's okay, you don't have to be scared. I won't hurt you." Although I was now shaking in fear it registered in the back of my brain that the voice didn't sound at all threatening. It was deep and gentle, slightly accented, and somehow soothing.

A strong hand gripped my shoulder then and gently rolled me over onto my back. I opened my eyes and looked up into the pair of teak coloured ones staring down at me.

He studied me closely for a moment before asking quietly, "How did you come to be out here?" I studied his face as well as I could in the pervading darkness of the jungle at night. His skin was a warm brown shade and his long dark hair fell from his head in a multitude of braids. He was very beautiful even in the obscuring darkness. And his face held such a look of sincere concern that it felt impossible for me not to tell him everything.

It all came tumbling out of my mouth the moment I opened it. The whole story rushing forth, all my guilt and complicity, my agony over Ben and now Demetri, my fear for my other friends who I'd betrayed so badly and whose fate I didn't even know anymore. He just sat there silently beside me, listening to everything I had to say without making a comment. His eyes never shifted from my face. When I was finally through I dropped my head back into my hands and began to sob all over again.

There was no response from my mysterious listener and the horrible idea that when I next looked up he would have vanished as suddenly as he came entered my head. I jerked my head up and saw that he was still sat there watching me unmoving. Then he gently reached out and brushed a strand of my tangled hair away from my face.

"Shh," he breathed softly, his eyes still so intense on mine. I started to fear that he was judging me, blaming me for what had happened to all those others. As he would be right to. My lip trembled again.

"I have just one question after listening to your story." He stated quietly. I nodded jerkily, indicating for him to go on.

"What is your name?" I felt a little start of surprise. That had been the last thing I had expected him to ask.

"Angela," I breathed.

"Angela." He repeated back.

"Who are you?" I asked tentatively. Would this mysterious man even have a name?

"Nahuel." He told me calmly as ever.

I smiled shakily. "And here I was half expecting you to say you were a guardian angel." I tried to joke weakly. For the first time Nahuel smiled.

"I can be that if you want," he said, his voice sounding so gentle and smooth it still didn't seem inconceivable that he was an angel.

"You can save me?" I asked him, hardly daring to believe it.

He smiled that beautiful smile again, "I will save you." He said firmly.

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Edward's PoV

For a moment it seemed almost possible to forget the danger that we were still in. To forget that we were still so likely to die out here in this strange place so far away from home. Because right now everything felt beyond perfect. It was blissful even.

We probably only felt this way because of the hardships we had been through up to this point and that things were only better now when you looked at them in relative terms. But that didn't stop the feeling as it was right now.

In reality the situation still looked worrying for Alice. Granted, she was conscious now but we had no guarantee that she would stay that way and her condition still wasn't good. Her bitten leg seemed to be paralysed and her other one was too weak to move properly. In fact she was still too weak to move at all without help. But she had Jasper to take care of that. I got the feeling that even if she had been fully recovered he wouldn't have let her move without his aid. She was also still a little dizzy and spaced out half the time. Clearly her fever hadn't been completely removed.

But the fact was she was alive. My baby sister was still living and breathing and that's what mattered to me now. I had been certain that we would lose her but just as I'd been most certain that she was only minutes away from departing for good she had pulled through. And that knowledge made me feel like singing.

I glanced up from where I'd been gazing out across the still river water and saw Bella's eyes on me. There was a worried little crease between her brows. She shuffled over to me so that I was close enough to hear her whisper.

"Edward, I'm worried." She murmured tensely.

I raised my eyebrow, indicating for her to go on. "I'm delighted that Alice has woken up but this doesn't mean she's not still in danger, you know." She whispered hurriedly. I lowered my head; I knew what she was getting at.

"I know, Bella. If she doesn't get proper medical attention soon she's just going to get sicker again and miracles aren't likely to happen twice. She's not got the strength left to fight off that fever again. But I don't know what to do. I can't think of a way for us to escape this place in time."

"And Rosalie too," Bella added anxiously. "I'm worried her broken wrist might get infected. And the rest of us can't keep going without proper food. God knows if this water is even safe." She finished waving a hand vaguely at the river.

"What do we do?" she asked hopelessly as she turned her eyes back onto mine.

I sighed. "There's nothing we can do other than keep going, my love. We just have to not give up hope and keep our determination strong. But I think we also have to accept that this might be it."

Bella nodded her head sadly. I couldn't help marvelling at how brave she was. Not many 18 year olds would have been able to accept the prospect of their existence being doomed to a horrific end in the not at all distant future so stoically. I put my arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to me.

"You're wonderful, Bella." I whispered into her hair.

"I don't want to die so young," she said so quietly I almost didn't hear, "but I never expected to be lucky enough to experience love like what I feel for you. So if dying at 18 is the price I have to pay for feeling this, then I pay it gladly."

I squeezed my eyes shut tight, trying to block out the pain I felt at her words. "Don't Bella. Please don't say things like that."

She raised her head to look me in the eyes. "It's the truth. Edward. That's how I feel."

"I know," I whispered back, "I feel that same too. If I was sent back in time and was able to make the choice on whether to come on this trip again and meet you but go through the same fear and horror to the same terrible end or to not come and never meet you at all, I'd do it all the same."

We were silent for a long moment, content just to stare into each others eyes as the stars once more came out above us. I ran my fingers through her beautiful mahogany hair. Somehow it still felt as smooth and as soft as silk despite sleeping rough on a jungle floor.

Her eyes were wide, bottomless wells of feeling that I felt like I was drowning in. I would gladly throw myself into them and never surface. There was nothing that I needed that wasn't in those eyes.

I leant in slowly to kiss those softly parted lips; she still tasted so sweet. So perfect. I held her more tightly to me. If this was to be the end of us, here in this jungle, then it meant one good thing. There was no reason for me to ever let go of her now.

Bella suddenly pulled her head back from mine. Her breathing was coming a bit more heavily than usual. Her pupils were large and dark in her eyes.

"Edward, I've experienced everything I ever wanted to with you." She gasped. "Everything except one thing." She was staring at me very intensely, watching to see if I understood. I did.

"I don't want to die without feeling…" she trailed off breathlessly. I nodded and leant in to kiss her once more, sweetly this time. Then I took her hand and lead her a little way off from the others, where we would be alone.

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Any thoughts…?

There's a picture of the jungle river on my profile if you want to see it.

**Please review :) If you do I'll love you for all eternity. (sorry again for the massive wait)**

**xxx**


	20. Miracles

**Hey! Back again! This chapter is dedicated to Becky-Twilight Luver 4 Eva for prompting me to get off my butt (figuratively) and get this written. And, drum roll please… this is the LAST CHAPTER!!! (there is an epilogue though) So I hope you like it…**

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**Bella's PoV**

I woke up to the soft touch of early sunlight falling on my face and the feeling of Edward's fingers tracing gently up and down my spine. For a long moment I just lay there, still, not wanting to break the bliss.

"I know you're awake," Edward murmured, his voice like a caress. I just smiled.

"So what if I am?" I retorted, matching his voice for softness. Edward chuckled, the sound seductive.

"Well, now you've woken up I thought maybe we could pick up where we left off last night…" he hooked his fingers beneath my jaw and pulled my face up to meet his lips. I gasped involuntarily before pressing my lips back against his to return the kiss with just as much passion, my hands tangling in his hair. Memories of last night were playing themselves against my close eyelids. The burning look in his eyes, the feel of his hands pressing me ever tighter against him, the sound of our breaths coming harder and faster, the two sounds merging into one.

I pulled my head away, in dire need of air, and met Edward's gaze again. I couldn't keep the smile off my face. Everything I was feeling right now was completely irrepressible. Beyond ecstasy.

"I love you." He told me.

"I know," I whispered back, "Now more than ever, I know that. I love you so much."

And just then it didn't matter to me that we were probably about to die. Because to feel this way… well, it was worth it, worth dying for. One couldn't expect to receive something like this and not have to pay a price for it. And I didn't mind giving up everything, just to have had last night.

***

When we returned to the others, I was surprised really by how little time had passed. The light falling on our little clearing was still that of the very first rays of the day. It was beautiful, that light. Perfect and golden. Kind of like the shades you would expect to see in heaven. But maybe my mood was making me see things that way.

Rose and Emmett were sat with their arms around each other on the riverbank. Jasper was holding Alice in his arms again, she seemed to be peacefully asleep, which made me feel relieved even though I hadn't realised I had been worrying still. Everyone appeared to be in their own little worlds.

Rosalie raised her head to look up at us. She smiled but didn't say anything before turning back to Emmett. I was pleased that for once he didn't seem to feel the need to ruin the moment by saying something completely inappropriate.

I felt Edward step away from me. I followed him over to Jasper. Close up I could see the strain on my friend's face. He looked worn down.

"How is she?" Edward asked quietly.

"She's okay right now." Jasper answered, his voice hoarse with exhaustion. "But she's in a lot of pain when she's awake. And she can't move that leg at all. She's not recovering."

Edward bowed his head. "There's nothing we can do." He said bleakly. I could feel tears pricking at the backs of my eyes now. How did euphoria turn to grief so fast?

Then divine intervention occurred.

I turned my face up towards the sky and tried to fight back the tears. They came anyway and started to stream down the sides of my face. I shut my eyes in slow agony. Took a long deep breath to try and strengthen myself. Then I reopened my eyes and turned my face back towards the scene that was hurting me so much. But my eyes stopped before they reached Alice again. They stopped on the two figures just visible between the foliage.

I screamed.

I really should have been leaping into the air with elation but it took me so off-guard to see two other human beings out in this remote spot that I couldn't contain my startled cry.

Edward leaped to his feet with a curse. I heard Emmett shout something too but I was oblivious to the meaning.

"Angela…?" I whispered barely able to believe it. She grinned at me. The tall man stood beside abruptly strode out of the trees at this point to crouch by Alice's side.

"Hey! Get away from her!" Edward yelled aggressively, taking a step towards the man, who, now that I could see him better, I realised couldn't be much older than we were.

"No," Angela said quickly, stepping forwards, "Nahuel's here to help, he's not going to hurt her." Nahuel crouched down beside Alice and reached out for her bitten ankle, ignoring Edward's wary gaze.

"She was bitten by a snake two nights ago." Jasper whispered. Nahuel was nodding.

"It looks like she was bitten by a viper. Probably a Gaboon Viper." He was murmuring to himself.

"Who is this guy?" Rose asked me in a carrying whisper, I turned to see her staring at him with wide eyes.

"He found me in the jungle," Angela said quickly, "when I thought I was completely lost. And then he found your tracks and brought me to you." She smiled as she finished.

"He followed our tracks?" Rosalie stated dumbfounded.

"It's easier to do than you think." Nahuel said quietly from his position on the ground.

"What's a Gaboon Viper?" Edward demanded at the same moment that Jasper asked, "Can you save her?"

"A Gaboon Viper is the largest form of viper," he answered without looking up, "it comes out to feed at evening and is almost impossible to see against the ground. It has the biggest fangs you will probably ever see. And yes, I think I can save her." As he said this last he looked up to meet Jasper's worried gaze, his own deadly serious.

"How?" Jasper breathed.

"I will need your help. I can give her something that slows the venom's progress through her blood. But it will not cure her; we need to get her out of here as soon as possible. Without an antidote I can't save her, only buy you more time." He spoke very quickly now.

"What do you need?" Edward demanded.

"I need certain plants to make the mixture that she needs to drink to combat the venom. But you wouldn't be able to recognise them. I need you all to stay right here and prepare yourselves to start trekking again as soon as I return. You're very deep in the jungle, we have an impossible distance to make in very little time if your friend is going to survive." He held Edward's gaze for a long moment before leaping to his feet and racing off into the trees in the direction he had come.

A stunned silence pervaded the clearing after his departure. Finally I found my voice again.

"Angela, what happened? Where's Demetri?"

Angela turned her head away from me. But not before I caught the gleam of tears in her eyes.

"Oh Ange, I'm so sorry." I breathed, stepping over to pull her into a hug.

"It was so horrible." She whispered into my shoulder as I held her. I patted her back for a long moment before she pulled away.

"I thought I was going to be stuck in this jungle to die all alone," she went on, her voice not quite steady. "But then Nahuel arrived and he told me he was going to rescue us all. I thought he was an angel at first." She gave a shaky chuckle.

"Who exactly is he?" Emmett asked now. "How come he's out here all alone and how does he know how to track and cure snake bites and all that stuff? He seems too good to be true."

"I know," Angela agreed, but with a soft smile lighting up her face. "But he told me that his people have lived alongside the jungle for hundreds of years. He's grown up knowing all this stuff. He said most of his people don't come in here much anymore, and none as far as this, they all just live in their village and have ordinary jobs now. But he likes coming here to be by himself. He knows it so well that he's not at all scared of getting lost; he knows he could survive in here fine until ever he wants to find his way out."

"Wow, you really couldn't have met anyone better Angela." Rosalie said.

"I know," Angela said again, "He's wonderful." Rose and I exchanged significant glances. It sounded like Angela was smitten.

***

Nahuel came back quicker than I expected. He had his arms full of various things which he immediately set about preparing. When he was done he had created a kind of thick liquid. Alice was still unconscious and not showing any signs of stirring. Nahuel indicated that he needed Alice to swallow the mixture. Edward didn't look very happy about this but he let Jasper and Nahuel manoeuvre it down her throat. Jasper just seemed desperate to grasp on to any form of hope for his love.

As soon as she had swallowed it Nahuel was urging us up onto our feet. We were all ready, and so we set off immediately, following Nahuel back into the deep jungle.

He didn't seem to be following any kind of path or looking for any sort of landmarks to place himself with, he just kept moving doggedly onwards never wavering from his path. He moved very quickly and it was a struggle for us to keep up with him. He wove and ducked through the trees as if he could find his way through them unscathed even if he was blindfolded.

The quick pace was tough on me. I fell a lot.

I was surprised by Jasper's fortitude. I'd always known what a strong character he was but he'd already surpassed everything I'd thought a human being capable of going through. Now, despite carrying Alice's weight in his arms still, he walked almost as quickly as our guide. He was the only one of our group who showed no signs of struggling to keep up.

Several hours had passed and I guessed that we were a little past midday judging by the heat when the first thing happened. Alice woke up.

She was groggy and disoriented at first, just mumbling and turning her head with fluttering eyelids. It was enough to bring Jasper to a standstill though.

"Alice?" he gasped sounding almost as if he didn't dare to believe it.

"Jazz?" she murmured back, struggling to open her eyes. "Where are we? Are we going home?"

"Yeah, angel, we are. We're gonna get you to safety. Don't worry about anything; we're going to be alright."

Alice managed to smile up at him.

"We can't stop," Nahuel said quietly. So we started off again.

With every passing minute Alice seemed to improve. She became more alert and aware of where she was. She started questioning us on what had happened while she was out. The only thing that didn't improve was her strength; she remained just as weak in Jasper's arms as she had been this morning. That didn't stop her talking however. She chattered almost as much as old times while she was carried through the jungle at breakneck speed. The only problem was the no one had enough breath to answer her.

***

The hours passed on and daylight began to fade when Nahuel finally stopped.

"Why are we stopping?" Edward immediately demanded, his breathing still quite hard. "Can't we carry on through the night? You said we don't have enough time."

"Yes we can keep going in the dark. Or at least I can. But you all have been walking for days without any food or proper rest. We need to stop now for a little while unless you want to collapse halfway through the night." Nahuel said firmly.

I wanted to argue but I knew he was right. I had never felt so exhausted in my entire life. I was so hungry I didn't even feel it any more, just a sick empty feeling instead. Every muscle in my body was aching unbearably, as was my head. I thumped down to the ground heavily and instantly regretted it. I didn't feel like I'd be able to get back up on my feet now.

The others were flopping down around me too. Rosalie looked green again. Edward seemed on the verge of arguing with Nahuel before he sighed heavily and slowly lowered himself to the ground beside me, conceding defeat.

"How much further?" Jasper asked tersely, pulling Nahuel aside. In this last hour Alice had gone quiet again. Her face was white.

"If we can keep up this pace then…" Nahuel hesitated, weighing it up in his head, "maybe tomorrow afternoon. _If _you can keep up this pace." He seemed doubtful and I knew why. I felt like I was on my last legs. How on earth could I manage the whole night and the rest of tomorrow like this?

"We will." Jasper said firmly. Nahuel shrugged.

"What happens if we don't?" I murmured weakly. Nahuel turned to look at me. He sighed.

"I'm not sure. It depends on Alice. If we don't make it tomorrow but make it the day after then she might be able to last that long but I'm not making any guarantees. Maybe she will maybe she won't. We just have to try and do it as fast as we can to minimise the risk that…" he trailed off.

I closed my eyes heavily. Everything rested on such a small chance that we could do the impossible. Well, we'd have to do it that's all. I'd already come to realise that people could cope with much more than I previously thought humanly possible on this trip. We'd just have to prove ourselves again…

We eyes fluttered open heavily. I'd dosed off. Wow, I must have been tired. I glanced around; all the others were asleep too. Except our inexhaustible guide. He was sat upright and alert, his head cocked as if listening to something no on else could hear.

"Nahuel…" I started but he held up a hand signalling silence. He continued to listen.

"Do you hear that?" he whispered back to me. I shook my head listening with all my might. But I still heard nothing but jungle sounds. "It sounds like an engine," he breathed. I sucked in a breath sharply. My first thought was one of panic as I pictured James before I remembered that he was dead.

"A car?" I hissed. Nahuel leapt to his feet and bounded off through the trees towards the sound. I scrambled up hot on his heels.

This time I didn't find it hard to keep up with him despite the fact that he was running flat out. Adrenaline spurred me on. Somehow I managed not to trip either.

We flew through the trees, a wild hope gripping my limbs. And then we stumbled out onto what was a very overgrown almost completely submerged track between the trees. Nahuel stood in its centre staring down the road. And then I heard it too. It definitely sounded like an engine and it was heading towards the direction we'd been going in, coming out of the jungle's heart.

It rumbled into sight through the greenery. A jeep! My knees went weak with relief, my head swam. And I passed out.

***

I awoke quite soon after. I looked up into a pair of kind, warm brown eyes. I blinked.

"How are you feeling, my dear?" a voice that matched the eyes for kindness spoke. I struggled to sit up and a pair of hands gripped my upper arms to help me. I was lying in the back of the jeep and a woman sat beside me. She had long caramel coloured hair woven into a plait down her back and such a gentle expression that it almost moved me to tears.

"I'm Esme. My husband, Carlisle, has gone with your friend to find the rest to your group and bring them back here. We're going to drive you straight out of here."

This was too much for me; the tears came for real now.

"Oh, my poor thing." Esme said in her beautifully caring voice. She pulled me into her arms. "It's all okay now. You don't have to worry anymore. You must have been through so much. But it's over now. You're safe now."

She let me cry into her arms until I pulled myself together. I leant back wiping my eyes and smiling ruefully at how emotional I was behaving.

Esme hesitated and then asked what she must have been dying to ask the whole time. "How did you all end up out here?" she said concern colouring her tone.

I smiled sadly and began to tell her the whole long, sad story.

I'd only reached the part where we had to run from the camps on Edward's warning when the others showed up. They were in the middle of telling the tale too. Edward instantly jogged over to the jeep and pulled me into a tight hug.

"Can you believe this?" he whispered into my ear. "It's like a miracle. First Nahuel and now this! And this man Carlisle is a doctor as well, he says he has an antidote for Alice!"

I looked up into Edward's bright green eyes and saw tears shining in them, mirroring my own. There weren't enough words in any language to truly describe what all this meant to us right then. I think Emmett summed it up best however.

"Wow," he said, "the nightmare's really over."

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**Aww a happy ending after all! Doesn't that make you feel all warm inside, my lovely readers? It does to me anyhow and I knew this was coming!**

**There is an epilogue which will be up tomorrow, I promise! Brace yourselves for lots of fluff ;-)**

**I always find endings very, very, VERY hard to do so it would mean the world to me if you could just leave a little comment on how you felt when reading this chapter. Not very subtle hinting I know.**

**Love you all!**

**xxx**


	21. Epilogue: One year later

**Please read the Author's Note at the bottom if you don't mind ;-)**

* * *

**One year later…**

**Edward's PoV**

A year is a long time. After a whole year has gone by you can expect something to have been firmly placed in the past. Enough time has gone by to move on and start life anew. But of course that depends on what you've got to get over. And we had a lot.

I know people can deal with traumatic experiences very differently. Some people pretend it never happened and carry on their lives as before. They try to imprison the memories and not allow them to shape their lives.

None of us took that route.

What happened, happened, and there is nothing anyone can do to change what has been and gone. So none of us tried to forget what we had been through. We just got through it together. And aside from a few recurring nightmares and some overprotectiveness on some of our parts we'd managed to do pretty well even if I say so myself.

But a year is also a long time for two people to be together in a relationship. And after everything I'd gone through with that one important person I felt like I knew my heart pretty well. Emmett and Jasper agreed.

So that brings us to today. And the huge step that all of us is about to make, here in beautiful Senegal.

Today is going to be a very important day for us all. All three of us have South African diamond rings in our pockets, a set of well-rehearsed words and a whole stomach full of nerves.

***

I kept glancing at the sun that was slowly sinking into the west. It was getting perilously close to sunset and that was the time that the three of us had decided was to be _The Time_. We'd all elected to do it simultaneously so that none of the girls got any idea of what we were planning before we were able to get the words out ourselves.

Alice held her mobile out in the centre of the little circle the six of us made. She had it on speakerphone.

"So you all have to swear you'll be home by August or you'll miss my birthday," Angela's voice emanated from the phone. "And you have to be there or it won't be any fun. You all must have so much to tell me." I could hear the laughter in her voice. That was nice. Earlier on we'd been worried about how much of a long-term effect those events would have on Ange.

"Of course we'll be there!" Alice chirped in mock-outrage. "In fact I will go one better and promise to be home earlier enough to organise the whole thing for you."

Everyone laughed. "We're definitely going to be there," Bella assured her. "I suppose our holiday has to end eventually. I mean we've been virtually everywhere in Africa now, right?"

"Yeah," Emmett piped up, "I think I'm getting homesick."

"Whatever!" Rosalie snorted.

Angela was laughing again. "Okay, I'm gonna have to go now. Speak to you again soon." She said, the smile apparent in her voice.

"Okay, send our love to Nahuel." Alice said quickly.

"Will do. Bye!"

We all chorused our goodbyes and Alice snapped the phone shut.

I caught Jasper and Emmett's eyes and gave an infinitesimal nod. Here it goes.

"Let's take a walk." I murmured in Bella's ear as, grabbing her hand, I pulled her up after me.

I towed her down to the beach, which was now magnificent in all its sunset glory. Hand in hand we began to walk across the beautiful white sand.

"I love it here," Bella sighed. "I think Senegal has to be one of my favourites of all the countries we've been too."

I smiled to myself. Hopefully her memories of it were about to improve somewhat.

"Bella there is something I want to say to you." I mentally curse myself for sounding so tentative. This was not how I had planned on sounding.

I sighed and drew her to a stop. She was watching me now looking a little puzzled. "I know I've told you this what must be a thousand times but… you're my everything, Bella. In the true sense of the phrase. I've learnt the hard way that I can't live without you and what it'll do to me if I lose you. My life does not go on at all if you're not in it. I need you with me always. I love you, Bella. And I know everything I'm saying here is cliché and has been said a million times by others but I really mean every word."

I stopped in order to sink down onto one knee. Her beautiful dark eyes widened. "I don't want anything at all but to share the rest of my life with you. I belong completely to you Bella and I want everyone to know that. That's why I want you to marry me."

I pulled the ring out of my pocket now. "Bella. Please do me the honour of becoming my wife." I finished formally.

She didn't move. She just stood there staring at me with wide eyes. I began to feel a little nervous.

"You don't have to decide right now." I added quickly, feeling myself begin to backtrack. A little flutter of panic stirred in my stomach. "I mean, you can think about it for as long as you want. I just wanted to let you know…."

I stopped speaking as Bella sunk to her own knees in front of me so that we were on a level. I could see now that her eyes were sparkling with tears. She took my face between both of her hands.

"I can't believe it." She whispered, "I never dreamt that you would…" she broke off, sounding choked with emotion. "I love you Edward." She stated more strongly, her eyes fixed on mine. I tensed waiting for the 'but'.

"There is nothing in this world that means more to me than you," she breathed. "So, yes! Of course I will marry you Edward. I don't need even a second to think about it. I've never been more certain of anything else than I am of this answer. Yes! Yes! YES!" she cried.

She threw her arms around my neck and kissed me as if she were trying to convey all her love with that kiss. Not that I needed any proof. I rolled back into the sand pulling her with me. My fingers fumbled in my pocket for the ring.

I drew my head back just far enough to be able to meet her eyes properly and held up the ring. For a moment the surprised expression was back and then she smiled, a smile that could light up the whole world. And I slipped the ring onto her finger before kissing her again.

**Rosalie's PoV**

Emmett had persuaded me to take a swim in the sea as the sunset. He was being romantic. Well as romantic as Emmett could be. He'd surprised me over the last year on how romantic he could be. Even so he still had a habit of ruining the moment by being silly. But I loved him for it.

Right now he was being uncharacteristically not silly. He was holding me close to him while we tread water and staring at me as if he were thinking very deeply.

"Why are you staring at me like that? Are you trying to remember my middle name of something?" I asked playfully.

That familiar smile broke out across his face, showing his dimples. "I know your middle name, Lillian." He grinned.

"What is it then?" I asked giving him a little shove in the chest.

"I'm trying to figure out how to ask you to marry me." He said matter-of-factly, the grin still in place. I laughed.

"Good one, Emmett." I said sarcastically and splashed him in the face.

"What I meant it." He said rising his eyebrows in an expression of sincerity I didn't buy.

"Sure you did, Casanova." I grinned back as I kicked myself away from him so I could splash him better. "I could see how much you meant it when you got down on one knee and pulled that diamond ring out." I teased.

"What this one?" he said innocently as he held up a sparkling ring. I felt my jaw drop.

"Oh my god," I breathed to myself, staring wide eyed at what was very clearly an engagement ring. He'd really meant it. "OH MY GOD!" I suddenly shrieked. "EMMETT! OH MY GOD!"

I hastily kicked myself back over to him. He held out the ring towards me and as I raised my left hand, a little shakily, he slipped it on my ring finger. It fit perfectly.

"Emmett," I breathed again. I was actually speechless.

"So that's a yes then?" he asked lightly. I squealed and practically threw myself on him.

"This is the best day of my life!" I squealed happily as wrapped my arms around his neck.

**Alice's PoV**

The sun had very nearly disappeared into the sea. I was sat between Jasper's leg, staring out at is as I leant back against him. We weren't speaking. There was nothing that needed to be said. All we needed was to be with each other. That was enough.

"What do you want from life Alice?" Jasper asked unexpectedly, his voice was very soft.

"Just you." I responded quickly. He chuckled.

"So you don't have any immediate plans for when we return then?" he pressed again. I frowned slightly, not sure where he was heading with this.

"No. None as a matter of fact. Why?" I answered.

"Well I wouldn't want to upset and pre-made plans by what I'm about to do next." He answered enigmatically. I half twisted to try and see his face.

"What are you about to do?" I asked, confused. He pushed me gently back around so that I faced the sunset again.

"Oh, nothing." He said mysteriously.

"Jazz, don't do this to me. You know curiosity tears me apart." I said warningly.

"Oh yes, I do know that." He said very quietly. I felt his breath tickle my ear.

"Please tell me." I begged.

"Well," he said slowly, "it's not so much a matter of telling you as asking you…"

"Huh?" I did not feel at all enlightened.

"Close your eyes." He whispered into my ear.

I obliged. Feeling a little tremor of excitement in my belly as I did so. Like a premonition.

I felt his arms shift from where they had been placed around me. He took my left hand and raised it a little. I felt his right arm cross over the front of my body to meet my left hand. Then I felt him slip something onto a very significant finger. I stopped breathing.

My eyes opened to stare down at the little platinum band now curled around my third finger and the perfect, round, glittering diamond held in its centre.

"Yes?" Jazz questioned in a whisper.

I just nodded my head, unable to find my voice at all. He moved his hand to my jaw and raised my head until I met his eyes.

"You and me. Forever." He stated the words like a vow. Then he lowered his head to mine and kissed me.

* * *

**Don't you just love happy endings? – wipes away a tear**

**Special thanks to all readers and reviewers. I know some of you have been here from the start and thank you for helping me to create something I'm really quite proud of.**

**Anyway as this is finally it I'd kinda like to ask for some feedback on the story as a whole. What bits you thought worked and what didn't. If you'd have liked anything to happen differently.**

**What I'd really like to know is what your favourites bits were if you had any!**

**Thanks for reading!**

**xxx**


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